Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - Update November 1

With the Fall season in full swing and the extreme heat and dryness of summer behind us the worsening drought conditions seem to have come to a stand still for the High Plains Region. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, there was a slight improvement of a little more than 0.7% in total area of moderate drought (D1) conditions or worse.  The area with D1 type conditions in the High Plains Region now totals 98.20%. Also an area of severe drought (D2) in northwest North Dakota was upgraded one category. In Wyoming there was a one category upgrade in extreme drought (D3) conditions in the southwest corner of the state. This improvement reduced the total area of D3 by 3% in the state. The drought conditions in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota did not change at all from last week to this week. To learn more about the U.S. Drought Monitor, please see: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu

Nebraska has had the same drought conditions for the past three weeks.  The area of exceptional drought (D4) still inhabits 77.58% of the state. The area of D4 stretches from the panhandle in the west, across to the central part of the state and then continues along the northern part of the state to the Iowa border in the east. The area of D3 inhabits 17.73% of the state in the southeast and remaining 4.69% of the state is in D2 conditions. The entire state has had D2 conditions or worse since July 24, a little over three months. Check out the table below for the drought conditions over the past month for Nebraska. For more on the drought situation in Nebraska check out this site: http://droughtresources.unl.edu/

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): Nebraska