Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains Region - May 12, 2015

The big story for the High Plains region for the previous week was large amounts of precipitation. Parts of southeastern Nebraska received 8-10 inches of rain with a large area of 6-8 inches from northeastern Kansas into Nebraska. Western Nebraska also received nearly 24 inches of snow in the panhandle. South Dakota had its fair share of precipitation, too, as did North Dakota and Kansas. This resulted in fairly dramatic improvements across most of our area. However, there were some parts of the High Plains that saw drought deterioration.

Light to moderate, but continuous, rainfall improved drought conditions for the eastern portion of North Dakota. Moderate Drought (D1) was downgraded to Abnormal Dryness (D0). Western parts of the state remained dry and thus prompted an increase to D0 conditions. Most producers in this area were excited at the rainfall as it will likely lead to good seed germination. However, some planters are concerned they may need to replant due to excess rain.

Snow-rain equivalent totals of two to four inches were common across much of South Dakota, especially in the drought stricken central and western regions. This resulted in drought improvement from Severe Drought (D2) to D1 in all areas in South Dakota except one county. Areas of the Black Hills saw snow in excess of 12 inches which greatly improved topsoil moisture conditions in that area.

While western areas of the Nebraska saw copious amounts of snow and the eastern parts saw immense amounts of rain, the drought-stricken central areas of Nebraska received very little precipitation. Thus there were no major changes to drought conditions in Nebraska beside a slight trimming of D1 and  D0 conditions.

In northwest Kansas, above average temperatures and minimal rainfall contributed to drought deterioration. The United States Drought Monitor (USDM) now considers this area as experiencing Severe Drought. However, much of the rest of the state received beneficial rainfalls and near normal temperatures leading to an improvement in drought conditions. The most improved areas are southeastern Kansas and southwestern Kansas. The state also reduced its Extreme Drought (D3) category by more than 300% to covering just .47% of the state.

The mountain states saw mostly improvements. Much of southeastern and western Colorado saw improvements in D0-D2 conditions while eastern Wyoming saw improvements in D0. However, parts of western Wyoming saw an expansion of D0 conditions.

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