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Northwest Farmers Take Heart In Prediction Of Rainy Spring

Wheat fields in Lincoln County, Wash.
Jessica Robinson
/
Northwest News Network
Wheat fields in Lincoln County, Wash.

Northwest farmers call him “the weather man.” And at a farming conference in Spokane, he offered a reason for them to be optimistic about the upcoming season.

Every year, farmers gather at the Pacific Northwest Farm Forum in Spokane -- in part to hear what Art Douglas will say. He's a professor emeritus of atmospheric science from Creighton University and delivers an annual forecast on the Northwest.

“I would guess that most areas are going to have at least normal precipitation this spring," said Douglas. "And a lot of areas are going to have up to 120 percent.”

The pronouncement was a pleasant surprise to many of the farmers here.

“Our problem is we have almost no snow cover to fill the reservoirs so we're going to need all the moisture we can get this spring," said Dave Harris an alfalfa seed farmer from southeast Idaho.

By July, the rain is expected to give way to unusually warm, dry conditions in much of the Northwest.

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Jessica Robinson
Jessica Robinson reported for four years from the Northwest News Network's bureau in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho as the network's Inland Northwest Correspondent. From the politics of wolves to mining regulation to small town gay rights movements, Jessica covered the economic, demographic and environmental trends that have shaped places east of the Cascades. Jessica left the Northwest News Network in 2015 for a move to Norway.