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Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - Update August 23
Author: Joseph Brum - High Plains Regional Climate Center
Published: 2012-08-23 14:42:05
Updated: 2012-08-30 14:34:31
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, drought conditions continue to worsen in the southern states of the High Plains Region. The northern states of Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota saw little to no change in their drought condition from last week. Overall, 87.49% of the Region is experiencing moderate drought (D1) or worse. The area of exceptional drought (D4) continues to increase in Kansas and Colorado and now totals 16.20% of the Region. In Nebraska the area of extreme drought (D3) or worse is affecting almost all of the state at a total area of 98.30%, an increase of almost 7% from last week. North Dakota saw a slight increase in D1 area and conditions in South Dakota have remained nearly identical to last week’s conditions. Wyoming saw an increase of 7% in D1 area, mainly in the northwestern portion of the state. To learn more about the U.S. Drought Monitor, please see: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu
Kansas’s drought conditions continue to be the worst in the High Plains Region. All of Kansas is in a severe drought (D2) or worse condition. Nearly all of the state, at 96.43%, is in a D3 condtion, with only a small portion in the north central part of the state remaining in D2. The area of D4 continues to increase in Kansas and now totals 66.63% of the state. This is the highest percentage of any state in the U.S.
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
| Date | None | D0-D4 | D1-D4 | D2-D4 | D3-D4 | D-4 |
| 08/21/2012 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 96.43 | 66.93 |
| 08/14/2012 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 89.84 | 63.30 |
| 08/07/2012 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 89.74 | 38.58 |
| 07/31/2012 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 88.27 | 17.45 |
| 07/24/2012 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 72.65 | 9.31 |
| 07/17/2012 | 0.00 | 100.00 | 100.00 | 94.75 | 63.78 | 6.14 |