Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - February 24, 2015

The story this week is precipitation, or the lack thereof. Most of our area (except for parts of Colorado and Wyoming) saw less than .15” this week. Parts of the Dakotas are now entering six-month deficits of around four inches. However, winter is normally dry so these deficits are not as impactful as they would be in the summer. The main concern for these areas is soil moisture. This could cause some problems in the spring. Groundwater, in general, has become a concern for areas of southwestern Wyoming where a NASA satellite noticed dry conditions. This explains the change to D1 (Moderate Drought) throughout that area.

Although most of our area received little to no precipitation, we were able to remain below average temperatures. This kept the ground frozen which helped to prevent an increase in drought conditions in the High Plains. However, this wasn’t the case for south central Kansas. D1 was expanded to this area in response to high precipitation deficits over the past few months leading to a concern in surface water supplies.

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