Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - February 3, 2015

The end of last week was accompanied by warm temperatures throughout most of the High Plains region. On average places were three to six degrees of Fahrenheit above average. However, as we moved into the weekend, much of our area received heavy snowfall amounts in excess of seven inches. Then, another system moved through on Wednesday leaving another one to six inches in the area. This large amount of precipitation improved the D0 drought conditions in southeastern Nebraska and northeastern Kansas. In the maps to the right, you can see the percent of normal precipitation, and how that correlates to the improvement in drought conditions.

In Colorado the warm temperatures caused most of their precipitation to fall as rain, even in the higher elevations. That has seemed to be the story this year for many areas in the Intermountain West, especially in Colorado and Wyoming. This causes concern, because with less snowpack there will likely be less runoff this spring and summer. The runoff from higher elevation snowpack is crucial many communities.  It also creates quite the task to predict drought as valley areas have been receiving adequate precipitation, while the mountains are lacking in snowfall.

The next week will see an increase in temperatures again for both daily highs and overnight lows. However, the northern plains do have a chance of precipitation next week that will hopefully improve developing drought conditions in the Dakotas.

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