Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - February 10, 2015

There is not much of a story for the High Plains region this week. Once again our area saw abnormally warm temperatures. Places in western Kansas even reached the low 80s, and records were broken in both Kansas and South Dakota. Yet, once again, these warm temperatures were accompanied by relatively dry conditions. This led to an increase in drought in South Dakota in the D0 category (abnormally dry) and southeastern Kansas also saw a slight D0 increase. The rest of the High Plains region had no change in drought conditions this week.

Central Colorado and Wyoming experienced moderate precipitation this week, but once again temperatures were too warm to increase snow pack. However, reservoir storage remains above normal in these areas, so there is not a cause for concern as of now.  The following week they are expected to receive an additional one to two inches of liquid precipitation. This could potentially occur during times of below normal temperatures which is good news!

Over the next week the High Plains have a greater chance for below average temperatures and above average precipitation. This should be beneficial to the drought, especially the newly developed conditions in South Dakota. To the right you will see the Climate Prediction Center’s probabilities for temperatures and precipitation along with the current drought conditions and the changes made from last 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