Weekly High Plains Drought Update - November 16, 2017

Drought Depiction Mostly Unchanged This Week

Cold and dry conditions resulted in little change in the U.S. Drought Monitor depiction for the High Plains this week. The only change was the expansion of abnormally dry conditions (D0) and a small area of moderate drought (D1) in southern Kansas, which connects to an area of dryness in northern Oklahoma. Precipitation in southern Kansas has been lacking during the past couple of months.

Although the growing season has ended across the High Plains, winter wheat planting was just wrapping up. Winter wheat was faring well across the region with the exception of South Dakota. According to the USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin for November 14th, 54% of the winter wheat crop was in poor to very poor condition in South Dakota, and only 14% of it was in good to excellent condition. This poor start to the winter wheat growing season can be attributed in part to the summer drought in South Dakota, but also sudden cold temperatures during the fall. In fact, winter wheat condition was the second worst the state has seen in the last two decades for this time of year, with only 2012 being worse.

The 6-10 day outlook calls for a good chance of above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation across the High Plains. The Quantitative Precipitation Forecast indicates that the greatest amount of precipitation is expected in mountainous areas of Colorado and Wyoming, with the possibility for up to 0.1 inches in southern Nebraska, northern Wyoming, and western South Dakota.