If it weren't for the cool weather that has us plodding along to start off the growing season, the lack of precipitation this spring season would be even more of a story. The cool weather decreases water demand from plants and the air, so helping to lessen drought impacts. The lack of moisture is certainly noticeable in area water bodies with today's featured chart looking at stream flow measurements for Squaw Creek in Ames. All the years since 1991 are plotted with the flood year of 1993, drought year of 2012, and this year highlighted on the chart. You can see this year's flows are near the bottom of observed values for early May and below were we were at during 2012. It will certainly be interesting to see where we go from here. We desperately need heat and precipitation, but getting both at the same time can be tough to come by.

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