Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - Update September 6

With the return of warmer temperatures this past week and the remnants of Hurricane Isaac missing almost all of the High Plains Region, worsening drought conditions continued. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, expansion of drought conditions occurred in all six states of the Region. Overall, 92.07% of the Region is experiencing moderate drought (D1) or worse, a 4% increase from last week. In South Dakota, extreme drought (D3) expanded over most of the central portion of the state. The wide spread exceptional drought (D4) that is sweeping across western and northern Nebraska has made its way into the southeastern portion of South Dakota. The area of D4 in Nebraska now totals just over 70%, the highest percent the state has seen since the inception of the drought monitor in 2000. In North Dakota areas of D1 are expanding in the northwestern and southeastern portions of the state. The eastern portion of Kansas that did see some rains from Isaac improved dramatically, improving 2 categories in some areas. The western portion of Kansas was not so fortunate; D4 continues to expand with the lack of rain in the area. To learn more about the U.S. Drought Monitor, please see: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu

Wyoming’s conditions continue to worsen. Conditions of D3 and D4 have pushed west out of Nebraska and are now affecting eastern portions of the state. The area of D4 totals 2.62% of the state, the highest it has been since May of 2005. In western portions of Wyoming D2 and D3 continue to expand. Areas of D2 or worse conditions now total 87.53% of the state.

Check out the table below for the drought conditions over the past month for Wyoming. For more on the drought situation in Wyoming check out this site:  www.uwyo.edu/ces/wyo-disaster/drought/index.html

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): Wyoming