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

This week the High Plains Region actually experienced an increase in drought, although not much and nothing to really worry about. Last week 68.90% of the region was not in any sort of drought, this week that number dropped by 0.60% to 68.33%. This is mainly due to the increase of D0 drought, which increased by 0.57%. This means that areas are going into short-term dryness slowing planting and growth of crops or pastures. It isn't much to worry about now. 

Colorado saw the best improvement when it's D3-D4 categories dropped by a couple percent. The worst parts of the drought in southeastern Colorado are getting better week by week. The light to moderate rain elsewhere in the High Plains region led to the prevention of too much expansion of drought. 

Over the next week, monsoonal rains should bring some more relief to southern Colorado. However, the rest of the region should stay fairly dry. As well temperatures are forecast to be below normal, which should prevent the drought from worsening. 

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