Weekly High Plains Drought Update - November 30, 2017

Drought persists across the High Plains, with degradations in western North Dakota, western Colorado, and south central Kansas, according to this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor. Moderate drought (D1) conditions expanded across western North Dakota, and an expansion of severe drought (D2) conditions was reported by the US Drought Monitor west of the Standing Rock Sioux tribal lands. Western Colorado’s abnormally dry (D0) and D1 conditions expanded by 4% in areal coverage. Parts of southern Kansas also degraded from (D0) to D1 conditions this week. Improvement was made in northwestern Montana, where D1 conditions reduced in size.

The USDA’s Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin reports the following updated percentages for winter wheat in poor to very poor conditions: Colorado (7%), Kansas (14%), Montana (15%), Nebraska (10%), and South Dakota (38%). Topsoil moisture conditions declined across the High Plains, especially in Kansas where a 9% increase in the percent of topsoil moisture rated short to very short was recorded.

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center’s 6 - 10 day outlook favors below-normal precipitation across most of the High Plains. The center also predicts above-normal temperature chances for Wyoming, Montana, northern Colorado, western Nebraska, western North Dakota, and western South Dakota. Chances for below-normal temperatures are predicted for eastern Kansas, eastern Nebraska, and southern Colorado. The 7 - day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast predicts precipitation in northern Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, where the mountainous regions can see up to an inch or more and the prairie can see a tenth or more.