Mother Nature has a cruel sense of humor

Rain, or lack of it, is the hottest topic in town.
Weather is always an easy ice-breaker here in the Midwest, but when it’s desperately dry outside some folks find it hard to think of anything else. And with reason. You can see the stress in area farmers’ faces.
Knowing how quick and wide the ag sector ripples through the local economy, a dramatic lack of spring rain is quickly becoming a concern for anybody who calls Hamilton County home. A story in this week’s edition details what at this point in time is being called an “extreme drought,” with most of the state in varying levels of concern from exceptional drought to abnormally dry. 
We’ve noticed the difference on our property with only a small garden and yard to take care of, so I can’t imagine trying to sleep at night with thousands of acres, including some dryland fields, on my radar. And it’s still May, with the heat of June, and especially July and August yet to come!
I also couldn’t help but notice how the script has flipped in Nebraska as we drove west this weekend for an overdue trip to visit my mother and family in Imperial. Southwest Nebraska is typically dry compared to Hamilton County, but if you were watching the news last week 2023 has, so far, been a story of Jekyll and Hyde.
The Imperial area had some 12 inches of rain pour from the sky in the last week or so, including one 7-inch deluge. Even days later we saw huge sections of railroad foundation washed out on Highway 6 and standing water as far as you could see. The Frenchman Creek has always been just that, a small creek, as far back as I can remember, but it’s overflowing now.
My family tells me it’s been a very wet spring leading up to the latest soakings, which was visible as well but in a good way. Fields are already popping with young crops in late May and the entire landscape has a healthy green hue that makes you feel alive just driving down the road.
Meanwhile, our end of the state is bone dry. Driving home on Monday you could see the gradual change in the landscape, as the temperature rose as well. That’s just one given day, obviously, but it’s been part of a frustratingly consistent pattern.
Mother Nature has a cruel sense of humor when it comes to turning on her spigot. How many times has there been a slight or modest chance of rain in the forecast, only to see the clouds split at the moment of truth, dropping little if any moisture on these parched parts. Last Thursday we heard reports of Giltner area fields receiving up to 3 inches of life-giving moisture, while the Aurora area had a light sprinkling. 
As always, all eyes are on the immediate and long-term forecast this time of year. As of this writing Monday evening, there is hope beyond hope that five straight days with a chance of rain at 40 percent or better will translate into slow, soaking rains that will jump-start this year’s crop and bring even the slightest of smiles to our weather-weary community.
I’m a glass half-full (of water, this time) kind of guy, so cheers to you, Hamilton County.
KURT JOHNSON can be reached at kjohnson@ hamilton.net