Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - November 13, 2014

It was warm and dry last week over much of the High Plains region, preventing significant improvements in drought conditions. The biggest story of the week in terms of drought in the region is the expansion of abnormally dry (D0) conditions to include most of eastern South Dakota. The D0 area in that state went from 13.18% last week to 38.19% this week. Sixty- and ninety-day percent of normal precipitation for that region is at 50 percent or less. While there was a very slight expansion of D0 in North Dakota and Nebraska, and slight improvements in drought conditions across Colorado and Kansas, for the most part it was status quo for this week.

Next week looks to be cold across the Northern Plains. Western Colorado has the best chance of getting the most precipitation, as the QPF is predicting around two inches of precipitation. About a half inch of precipitation is predicted for central and northeastern Kansas. The most drought-stricken areas, however, will not see much relief this week.

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/MapsAndData/DataTables.aspx

  Drought Condition (Percent Area): High Plains Region