Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - March 17, 2015

Drier than normal and much warmer than normal conditions dominated the High Plains again this week. The warm temperatures also brought the onset of snowmelt in the northern Plains. Not only did it start the melt, but it also sped up the drying process making the precipitation deficit larger. Parts of the Dakotas saw temperatures 18 to 24 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. The lack in precipitation is starting to be seen in soil moisture, especially in Nebraska where values are two to three inches below normal.

All of these put together led the United States Drought Monitor to upgrade parts of Nebraska and the Dakotas to D0 (abnormally dry). Parts of northeastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota were upgraded to D1 (moderate drought) as were areas in northwestern Kansas and extreme southwestern Nebraska.

It doesn’t seem like there will be much chance for precipitation in most of the recently drought degraded areas, but we might just have to wait and see.

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/

Drought Condition (Percent Area): High Plains Region