Wet weather expected to stick around

STAFF WRITER

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The rain that has barraged Curry and Roosevelt counties is expected to continue into the coming week, garnering mixed results from area farmers whose livelihoods owe much to precipitation.

Meteorologist Chris Luckett said the next seven days will see temperatures staying in the mid-80s with a likely resurgence of thunderstorms.

“As we get into the next work week, it looks like we’re going to see another resurgence of moisture, especially over the east,” said Luckett. “It’s kind of a rollercoaster as far as weather activities. The weekend’s going to kind of taper down a little bit, and then into the next work week, we can definitely see a repeat in some more activity.”

Luckett said October temperatures will be “a little bit above normal,” while precipitation “looks like it will be equal.”

Portales received .67 combined inches of rain Wednesday and Thursday, with a total of 1.29 inches for Clovis, according to meteorologist Randall Hergert.

While Roosevelt County farmer Rick Ledbetter always appreciates rain, he said that it has been hindering his ability to pick his green chile crops and harvest his corn silage.

“We can’t pick chile, particularly; the fields are too wet,” Ledbetter said. “On the corn harvest, we have the silage, so we have trucks and stuff in the field, and if the fields are real wet, we can’t get them through the field.”

He added delays in corn harvesting will mean the crop is dryer.

“There’s a certain point where corn silage is just exactly like we want it, for the dairyman and for the farmer,” Ledbetter said. “Even though it’s raining, the moisture content continues to fall in that corn, so it gets too dry for us before we can get back in the field sometimes; not to say we can’t use it for silage.”

Pat Woods, a farmer in Curry County, said the rains have helped his hay and wheat crops.

“Our hay crops are really looking good now. For a while there, we didn’t know if we were going to produce any hay, and now it’s getting tall enough that we’ll be able to bale and make some hay,” Woods said.

Don Wiley’s crops are doing well as a result of the rain, but the Roosevelt County-based grower hopes the next few days will bring sunshine.

“If we get a lot of days of sunshine after all this rain, they’ll be doing a lot better. They don’t have enough sun right now to really explode, but as soon as we get some sun, they will,” he said.