Weekly High Plains Drought Update - February 8, 2018

Drought conditions worsened slightly this week in the High Plains. Moderate drought (D1) conditions expanded into two regions this week: southeastern North Dakota and northeastern South Dakota, as well as northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. Southeastern Colorado and southern Kansas had an expansion of severe drought (D2) conditions, along with the expansion of extreme drought (D3) in south central Kansas. According to the USDM, over 5.5 million people in the High Plains are currently living in drought areas, with 80,000 of them affected by the D3 conditions in southern Kansas.

Snowpack in Colorado remained well below normal this week. The southwestern basins of Colorado continued to be especially low, remaining under 50% of normal, however the statewide Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) was at 64% of normal. Although some basins in southern Wyoming were slightly below normal, as a whole SWE in Wyoming increased to 113% of normal.

The Climate Prediction Center's 6-10 day outlook favors below-normal temperatures for northern Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, extreme northeastern Colorado, and northeastern Wyoming. However, much of Colorado and southern Kansas have a greater likelihood of above-normal temperatures. Below-normal precipitation is favored in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, southeastern North Dakota, the eastern half of South Dakota, and southern Wyoming. According to the 7-day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast, light precipitation is predicted across most of the High Plains, with the most accumulation expected in the mountains of Colorado and northern Wyoming.