It appears that winter wheat takes very kindly to El Nino. The mild winter conditions brought on by El Nino have also been very kind to the region's livestock. Recent rains, however, have led to muddy conditions that have stressed cattle and made calving difficult. In general, calving and lambing have surpassed the halfway point. Pasturelands across the High Plains are beginning to green up and are rated mostly good to fair.
More sunny weather is needed to help pastures along.
Barley and spring wheat planting is just getting underway, with the most significant progress being made in Colorado and Wyoming. This marks the first time runoff has been below normal since the fall of 1994. System storage ended the month at 58.6 MAF, 0.9 MAF above average. This leaves plenty of storage space available in the reservoirs to help reduce any downstream flooding. Estimated hydropower production for 1998 should be close to the normal of 10 billion kWh.