Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - October 9, 2014

Overall, drought conditions improved throughout the High Plains region this week. A slow-moving storm system brought heavy rain and improved drought conditions in Colorado and Kansas. Extreme drought (D3) was removed from the extreme southeast corner of Colorado, and moderate drought (D1) and abnormal dryness (D0) were removed from parts of northern Kansas. D0 also disappeared from extreme southern Nebraska. An area of D0 was introduced to southeastern North Dakota and northeastern South Dakota, however, due to the region missing out on rainfall from the weather system that moved through last week. There was no change in drought conditions in Wyoming this week.

Looking ahead to the next week, the remnants of Tropical Storm Simon are expected to drop several inches of rain across drought-stricken areas of Colorado and Kansas. According to the Quantitative Precipitation Forecast for the next 7 days, as much as 7 inches of precipitation could fall over eastern Kansas, and nearly 3 inches may fall over southeastern Colorado. Due to this potential for heavy rainfall, the local National Weather Service offices have issued flood watches for these regions.

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