Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region- Update August 9

Continuing the trend of the past few months, high temperatures and lack of precipitation are affecting much of the High Plains Region. The Region as a whole has 87.16% of its area in a moderate drought (D1) or worse condition according to the latest release of the U.S. Drought Monitor. The one good thing about the area of D1 is that it did not increase from last week, but areas that are already in drought are getting worse. Nebraska has a total area of 91.17% in an extreme drought (D3) or worse condition, which is an increase of a little more than 8% from last week. An area of exceptional drought (D4) in Colorado has expanded this week to now total 5.67% of the state. The bright spot of the Region was in western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming, where cooler weather and improved stream flows upgraded conditions one category. To learn more about the U.S. Drought Monitor, please see: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu 

Kansas had its condition worsen again this week. All of the state is in a severe drought (D2) condition and almost 90% of the state is in a D3 condition. D4 conditions can now be found in the eastern portion of the state this week, along with the D4 conditions in the western half of the state expanding. The total area of D4 in Kansas now totals 38.58%, a 21% increase from last week. Check out the table below for the drought conditions over the past month for Kansas. For more on the drought situation in Kansas check out this site: http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/wdl/drought/welcome.htm

To view more statistics of the High Plains Region and each state check out the Tabular Statistics here: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_highplains.htm

                      Drought Condition (Percent Area): Kansas