Regina Bird

Listen Now 0:00 From fires to rounds of severe weather, April brought its fair share of excitement across the Plains. Early in the month, wildfires were ignited by dry lightning in western Oklahoma and the Panhandle of Texas. Passing storms with little rain moving through April 9 are believed to be the causes of the blazes.

Drought, Opinion, Weather, Weather Watch Listen Now 0:00 Dry conditions were a continued problem in February. Dry fuels and mild temperatures—along with gusty winds— created several days with high fire danger. Feb. 17 was a particularly bad day as a fire ignited near Beaver, Oklahoma, and quickly spread through northwest Oklahoma into southern Kansas. The Ranger Road Fire burned 280,000 acres.

This year started with a mixture of some seasonably mild air but also record cold too. A strong system spread widespread mixed precipitation in the southern to central Plains in the later part of the month. The timing of snow was beneficial for winter wheat in Kansas and points south to protect it from bitter cold air that surged in as well. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case in Nebraska where some of the crop was exposed to sub-zero temperatures several days in a row.