Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - April 7, 2015

The High Plains goes another week without seeing drought improvement, but rather further degradations. Pockets of our region received a little bit of rainfall, while others remain parched. Most of the High Plains experienced climatologically normal temperatures this week except for a few spots in North Dakota and Colorado that were below and above average respectively.

Severe (D2) and Extreme (D3) Drought expanded into Kansas due to warm temperatures, below average precipitation, and high winds causing at least one dust storm to roll through last week. This is the first time since last June that the High Plains has experienced expansion in the Extreme Drought category. Northern Colorado, southern Wyoming, and extreme western Nebraska have entered a period of Abnormal Dryness (D0) due to the prolonged lack of precipitation and above normal temperatures.

Over the next week the Climate Prediction Center notes a higher probability for the High Plains to experience cooler than normal temperatures. They also note that the northern High Plains and the Rocky mountains have a higher probability for above normal precipitation with Nebraska and Kansas having equal chances of above or below normal precipitation. This appears that it may mitigate or even improve drought, but only time will tell.

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.

Drought Condition (Percent Area): High Plains Region