Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - September 25, 2014

The High Plains region saw additional drought improvement this week, but it was only in the state of Colorado. Southwestern Colorado generally saw a 1-category improvement, and D0 (abnormally dry) was removed from the northwestern portion of the state. The D3 (extreme drought) category was removed from southwestern Colorado, but the area of D3 drought in southeastern Colorado remains. Unfortunately, Kansas did not see any drought improvement in the past week. While indicators such as streamflow conditions have improved, soil moisture and pastureland conditions are poor in drought-stricken areas of the state. Elsewhere, it was status quo.

Although not part of the High Plains region, it is interesting to note that the remnants of Hurricane Odile provided significant drought relief to parts of New Mexico and Texas last week, where portions of the region received half or more of the precipitation expected in an entire year!

Looking ahead to the next week, an inch or more of precipitation is expected across the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and western Colorado. Unfortunately, the least amount of precipitation in the High Plains region is expected in eastern Colorado and western/southern Kansas, where drought is most intense at this time.

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/

Check out the table below for the drought conditions over the past 2 months for the High Plains Region.

To view statistics of the High Plains Region and each state check out the Regional Statistics here: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DataArchive/Tables.aspx?high_plains

  Drought Condition (Percent Area): High Plains Region