Severe weather ends drought
for Nebraska, director says
By Kara Wells
Staff Reporter
The recent onset of severe weather
marks the end of the drought Ne
braska has been experiencing, accord
ing to Donald Wilhite, director of the
International Drought Information
Center at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln,
‘We’ve largely pulled out of what
we’ve been in for the last several
years,” Wilhite said.
For the second consecutive win
ter, warm temperatures and below
normal precipitation caused weather
conditions corning into spring to be
considerably worse than the year
befpee, he said.
As a result of the dry winter, he
said, the ground water and soil re
serves were drawn down.
Wilhite said weather conditions
began to improve in March. There
was above normal precipitation in
March and May, with a slight de
crease in April. This pattern of in
creased precipitation continued with
severe weather to improve the soil’s
condition, he said.
Wilhitc said the current soil mois
ture supply is good, but there is still
concern for northeastern Nebraska and
the Sandhills.
He said there has been a lag in soil
moisture improvement because ef
fects of the drought tend to linger.
But, he said, the groundwater levels
are returning to normal.
“The amount of above normal
rainfall we’ve been getting will re
plenish the soil and recharge ground
water levels,” Wilhite said.
Although Nebraska is recovering
from the drought, he said, western
states are in bad shape because they
continue to suf fer from dry weather.
Western states depend on large
storage systems, for their water sup
ply, Wilhite said He said those reser
voirs are nearly empty, which con
tributes to the severe drought condi
tions there
in Nebraska, he said, farmers rely
on groundwater and irrigation for
moisture.
Wilhite said that for now, the 30
day outlook shows a continuation of
the normal rainfall. But, he said, it
could change dramatically in the lat
ter summer months.
“EJasically, we should be in £ood
shape from the agricultural perspec
tive,” he said.
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1990 DAILY NEBRASKAN
Apartheid
Continued from Page 1
crowds of South African school chil
dren who were protesting the teach
ing of Afrikaans in school. Afrikaans
is the language of white South Afri
cans, More than 600 South Africans
died during the violence of the next
11 months.
Brian Chaffin, a graduate student
in English, said the Coalition Against
Apartheid wants the non-profit com
pany to divest.
But NU Foundation president Terry
Fairfield said the foundation has ‘‘very
minor” amounts invested in compa
nies that do business in South Africa,
and the foundation “focuses on in
vestments as investments without
consideration of social policies.”
Because the foundation is a pri
vate, not a state, organization, it isn’t
required by law to withdraw its in
vestments from South Africa.
Nell Eckersly, Early Warning!
facilitator, said the demonstrators also
wanted to promote the upcoming
apartheid rally scheduled for July 16.
Though blacks’ freedom has pro
gressed in South Africa, she said,
people need to continue the fight.
“It’s important that right now the
U.S. makes a stand,” she said.
After reaching the State Capitol,
Joseph Akpan, president of the Nige
rian Student Organization, spoke
briefly to the demonstrators about
support for the the anti-apartheid
movement.
“Keep the issue alive. Be involved.
Voice your own support. If we mount
a campaign . . . they will have to
listen/* he said.