By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

This year, there's plenty of hope for the area's wheat crop. There's a healthy dose of trepidation as well.

That concern -- amid what could be considered almost ideal growing conditions for some areas of northwest Kansas -- is a result of an almost endless stream of storms that have left many wheat fields beaten and battered by the ravages of nature.

Nowhere is that damage more evident than in a strip stretching from north of Stockton on west to a point somewhere south of Hill City. The unanswered question is how wide that strip might be.

Those same storms also will dictate when the 2008 edition of the northwest Kansas wheat harvest begins.

Midland Marketing manager Vance Westhusin is speculating the first wheat in Ellis County will be cut Sunday.

"Sunday is subject to the weather," he cautioned.

Traditionally, some of the first wheat in Ellis County is cut from an area south of the cooperative's Toulon elevator.

How the wheat performs is open to speculation, he said.

"It looks really good," Westhusin said of the outlook for the crop. "But time will tell. With the storms going through every other night, who knows?"

A Monday storm, for example, swept through Ellis County, bringing with it hail that damaged wheat in the Catherine area.

Another storm swept through northwest Kansas overnight, generally bringing with it less than an inch of rain, but also high winds.

Ironically, as much of northwest Kansas battles with frequent storms, the far reaches of the area are battling severe drought. In Hays, for example, 11.57 inches of precipitation has been recorded so far this year, 1.77 inches ahead of normal.

At the National Weather Service bureau in Goodland, only 3.94 inches of precipitation has been recorded -- nearly 5 inches below normal.

In the area served by Midland Marketing's 11 elevators, however, "it all looks good," Westhusin said.

Except the area that has received hail, of course.

In the Catherine area, the hail covered an area about a mile wide and 4 miles long.

The losses have been even more extensive in the Palco area, where Midland Marketing has an elevator.

The damage, coordinator Stan Remington said, has come from three different storms. In some areas, the damage is complete, he said, while other fields have damage of up to 30 percent.

Damage from the storms extend west of Palco at least 8 miles into the Damar area, and then east all the way to Stockton and north of there.

"The last storm went over the same spot," Remington said. "It was about three different storms that went through."

Remington said he thinks hail has robbed the Palco and Zurich area of about 30 percent of its potential harvest.

"It's not good," he said.

The rains also are delaying the start of harvest.

"I don't know if we'll cut wheat next week," he said. "If the sun comes out and the wind comes up, we'll cut wheat toward the end of next week."