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Weekly High Plains Drought Update - October 5, 2017
Author: Emily Brown - High Plains Regional Climate Center
Published: 2017-10-06 19:27:24
Updated:
There was a large improvement in the Northern Plains drought this week due to heavy precipitation across the northern part of the region. Montana saw a reduction in exceptional drought (D4) conditions, with 7% less areal coverage. The area in extreme drought (D3) in Montana also decreased by 12%. Above-normal precipitation was recorded across parts of Colorado, Nebraska, central Kansas, southeastern South Dakota, and Montana, while portions of central South and North Dakota received less than 25% of normal rainfall. Warmer than normal temperatures were observed in Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, while Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana saw cooler than normal temperatures this past week.
The USDA’s Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin has reported continued improvements in crop and pasture conditions. The following are updated percentages of poor to very poor pasture conditions: Montana (65%), North Dakota (49%), and Wyoming (26%). Like last week, the topsoil moisture surplus percentages continued to rise in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The condition of corn in South Dakota has also improved, reducing the percentage of poor to very poor conditions by 4%. However, North Dakota’s soybean crop conditions degraded 6% in the poor to very poor category and South Dakota saw a rise in poor to very poor conditions for their sorghum production, which is now at 42%.
According to the 7-day outlook from the Quantitative Precipitation Forecast, eastern Kansas and southeastern Nebraska could receive up to 2.5” of rainfall, while other parts of the High Plains are likely to see no more than 0.25”. The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center’s 8-14-day outlook predicts high probability for below-normal precipitation for Colorado, western Kansas, western Nebraska, western South Dakota, southern Montana, and Wyoming. Along with that, the Climate Prediction Center also forecasts above-normal temperatures throughout most of the High Plains region.
