Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region-Update May 22, 2014

This was a quite drought week in the High Plains Region. Little precipitation across the area caused little to no changes in the Region’s six states. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor there were no changes in the lowest drought categories. The area of moderate drought (D1) or worse in the Region remained at 33.46% and severe drought (D2) or worse remained at 20.67%.

There were slight increases in extreme drought (D3) and exceptional drought (D4) this week. In Kansas, D3 and D4 both increased along the southern border shared with Oklahoma. The increase in D3 area was about 0.25% and the increase in D4 area was around 0.50% In Colorado, the area of D4 that has fortified itself in the southeastern part of the state increased by the slightest of margins, 0.02%. The other four states in the Region had drought conditions hold constant compared to last week.

This coming week has many chances of precipitation across the Region, including up to 3 inches in central Kansas according to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center.

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