Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - May 5, 2015

Some more rain this previous week, but the areas that needed it most saw no precipitation. Moderate precipitation and cooler temperatures induced drought improvements in western Kansas. The most impactful improvement was in southwestern Kansas. Drought conditions improved from Extreme Drought (D3) to Severe Drought (D2). This cut the area of Extreme Drought in half in our region. Colorado saw some drought improvements over the week as well. Rain and cooler temperatures in southeastern Colorado saw a one-class improvement in drought conditions.

Although it remained dry and warm in South Dakota, conditions for planting were actually above normal. However, range and pasture conditions are starting to stress due to the lack of water. For this reason the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) has decided to expand D2 Conditions westward into the Black Hills region. A lack of precipitation has led to extremely low streamflow conditions along the Red River in North Dakota. This prompted the USDM to upgrade this area to Severe Drought.

Over the week precipitation and near-normal temperatures are expected across most of the region. The better news is that the drought stricken areas of South Dakota could see upwards of an inch of rain, which would benefit the state of the drought.

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