Weekly High Plains Drought Update - March 22, 2018

Drought worsens in Colorado, improves in the Northern Plains

Both improvements and degradations were made to drought conditions in the High Plains on the U.S. Drought Monitor map this week. Beneficial precipitation in excess of 1.0 inch occurred throughout portions of the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Wyoming, resulting in a reduction of moderate drought (D1) and abnormally dry conditions (D0) in these areas. Meanwhile, the continuation of dry conditions in parts of Colorado led to an intensification of drought conditions, with D1, severe drought (D2), and extreme drought (D3) conditions all increasing in areal coverage, particularly in the southern and central portions of the state.

Mountain snowpack conditions continued to be above normal in northern Wyoming, with slightly below normal conditions across the southern tier of the state. While snowpack has improved in March in Colorado basins, statewide Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) as of March 22^nd was only 70 percent of median. While there were no changes to drought conditions in Kansas this week, topsoil moisture and winter wheat condition were both faring poorly. For topsoil moisture, 81% was rated short to very short, while 55% of the winter wheat was in poor to very poor condition.

The Climate Prediction Center’s 6-10 day outlook is favoring below-normal temperatures for a large portion of the High Plains. Above-normal precipitation is expected across southern and central parts of the region. The 7-day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast looks promising with precipitation expected across much of the High Plains, with the highest amounts expected across the Dakotas and eastern portions of Nebraska and Kansas.