Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains - October 13, 2015

An expansion of Abnormal Dryness (D0) westward into south-central North Dakota and southward into northeastern South Dakota was warranted due to short-term dryness (less than 25% of normal precipitation at 30-days, less than 50% at 60-days). Several stations in northeastern South Dakota had one of the ten driest Septembers on record while stations in the southwest were similarly dry.

Farther south, light rains during the past 2 weeks were not enough to offset development of short-term dryness in northern and southeastern Kansas as warm and windy weather is impacting fall planted crops such as winter wheat and canola. In northwestern Colorado, D0 was introduced to Grand, Routt, Moffat, and Rio Blanco counties based upon low SPIs at 30- and 90-days, and degrading vegetative health and soil moisture conditions.

In North Dakota good harvest progress was made due to favorable weather conditions. However, some strong winds over the weekend led to some minor crop damage. South Dakota experienced much of the same weather as North Dakota. Above normal temperatures and little to no rainfall allowed for much harvesting to take place.

Most of Nebraska saw temperatures exceeding six to eight degrees above normal with only slight precipitation in the southwestern part of the state. However, the dry conditions were welcomed for soybean harvesting. A majority of Kansas saw well above average temperatures and remained dry for the week.

In Colorado cooler and wetter conditions dominated around the state. Dry weather conditions prevailed in Wyoming. These dry conditions accelerated fieldwork and allowed harvesting of several row crops to begin.

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