Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region-Update September 12

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, little rain fell in most of the High Plains Region this week with the exception of Colorado and Wyoming. These two states continue to get beneficial monsoon moisture.

In the Region as a whole, moderate drought (D1) or worse slightly improved this week by about 1%, to total 62.27% of the Region. At the Regional level all other categories remain within 0.5% of last week’s total, with exceptional drought (D4) remaining the same this week at 2.16%

The southeastern corner of Wyoming had a one-category improvement this week. This reduced the area of D1 in the state by about 4%. Furthermore, abnormally dry (D0) conditions, totaling about 1%, were eliminated in the southeastern corner.  In Colorado, extreme drought (D3) conditions were upgraded this week in the southwestern corner of the state. This one-category improvement reduced the total area of D3 by 3%, to now total 18.65 of the state. In the north-central portion of the state D1 was upgrade to D0 as well.

With Nebraska and Kansas receiving little to no rain, conditions declined this week in some areas. In southeastern Nebraska D0 was expanded down to the Kansas border. This puts the entire state back in an abnormally dry or drought condition. In Kansas, D0 was reintroduced in the southeastern corner of the state. D0 also expanded in the northeastern corner of the state and along the Oklahoma border to the south.

In the Dakotas no changes were made this week, as 27.36% of North Dakota is in a D1 or worse condition and 22.43% of South Dakota is in a D1 or worse condition.

To learn more about the U.S. Drought Monitor, please see: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu

To see the U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook, please see the Climate Prediction Center here:http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/sdo_summary.html

To see the areas of agriculture affected by the drought, please see the USDA link: http://www.usda.gov/oce/weather/Drought/AgInDrought.pdf

To see the impacts of the drought, please see the Drought Impact Reporter here: http://droughtreporter.unl.edu/

      Drought Condition (Percent Area): High Plains Region