Storm system pushes east after drenching Plains

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By KEN MILLER

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A powerful storm system stretched from Texas to Minnesota on Sunday, bringing heavy rains and the possibility of flash flooding and more severe weather.

Flash floods could happen in parts of the country that saw damaging tornadoes and strong winds Saturday and early Sunday, according to Bill Bunting, chief of operations for the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. There were no immediate reports of any deaths or injuries.

"We are seeing pockets of damaging winds from Missouri south to northeast Oklahoma," Bunting said early Sunday, noting the winds reached up to 60 mph.

Later Sunday, scattered severe storms are expected to develop in eastern Minnesota, western Wisconsin and parts of Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas. The system is the result of a cold front extending from the north central Plains into the southern Plains that pushed up behind warm, moist air.

FULL story at link.



Severe weather moved through rural Lyon County Kansas and overturned a train Saturday, May 16, 2015. Another round of strong storms, including some tornadoes, is moving across the nation's midsection. Storms were also moving across parts of Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and Minnesota, where there were some reports of tornadoes. (Matthew Fowler/Emporia Gazette via AP)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150517/us--severe_weather-50cdc527bf.html

[jwirr]

1. NE MN finally got some rain. We were looking like we were going to join the drought this year. No

real storm problems up here. May have been some hail as grandson went out to eat and the rain was the coldest he had ever seen.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Redwood County had almost 5 inches of rain in the last

6 days. Almost 2 inches since yesterday morning.

[jwirr]

3. That would be nicer if it came slower but at least we got rain. I was really beginning to worry.

[Wellstone ruled]

4. Long Range forcast was for a

hot and drier summer. The real kicker is Frost for Tuesday,and all the corn and beans are two to three inches high. Ouch!! BTW,check the Star and Trib web site for a great story about what is going down with the Minnesota Farmers. Shades of the Farm Foreclosure nightmare on the horizon.

[jwirr]

5. That is terrible. Frost will probably replanting. Up here most of us hold off until June to plant

but you cannot do that down there.

I will look into the farm story. Sounds like the 50s all over again.

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Farm crisis of the 80's

and Dick Cheney showing up and making threats against foreclosure activists.

[jwirr]

8. That also. I went in and read two stories - one about small farmers raising food in a cooperative

and the other about large farmers losing money this year.

I am old enough to remember both. When I was younger farms were around 180 acres and very diversified. My grandparents and father co-farmed and had every kind of domestic food animal they could and used the manure for fertilizer. They also had a huge garden for the family and raised corn and soybeans as well as the hay to feed the animals in the winter. They raised enough to feed their families and sell some on the market. These kind of farms did pretty well until Eisenhower's administration.

Ike's administration encouraged the move to larger farms. I am not sure why he did that but a lot of small farmers went out of business. But the gist of the move meant more debt and more expenses. Plus the farms no longer produced food for their own needs. By mono-cropping they also did not have anything else to fall back on.

I am actually glad to see that young couple doing what they are. Small farming. Raising food locally in a cooperative effort. With climate change and oil depletion I actually think this is the way we will be going in the future. Up here in NE MN we would have more trouble with that as not everything grows here. But even so there are examples of that happening here already.

As to the large farmers going broke I have followed this for a long time. Farming is a gamble and too many put all their eggs in one basket. I remember when the Extension Office suggested that farmers should focus on their main crop. But in the changes with the climate that is going to be very dangerous. Some of the large farmers in NW IA were I grew up borrow over $100,000 a year to just get their crops in the field. If for any reason these crops do not make it they are sunk.

And I don't think that they are in any position to diversify because they have to take the advise of the bankers. I honestly do not know how they will survive as things get worse in the future.

[Wellstone ruled]

9. Notice the change in crop insurance rules for the 2015 year.

Corn growers will get smacked big time if we have a rough summer and yields go in the dumper. Typical ASCS operating loans exceed 100k and many are not going to be able to do the repayment this year is things go south.

The food for peace program was the accelerator for the major shift to Cash Cropping. All about selling corn and wheat to Russia,then came China. Winners were the big Grain Traders and Shippers,the looser was the American Tax Payer who picked up the subsidies doled out to these thieves.

[jwirr]

10. Absolutely. I did not realize the part about the food for peace program. When it comes to large

farming the taxpayers are often on the hook. Here in MN the last time this happened we had a state program to bail them out of bankruptcy. They bailed out the farmers but I suspect it was actually the banks that got anything out of it.

[mackerel]

7. No,no Mr. Storm System, move West!!!! Everyone loves us in Cali!