Weekly High Plains Drought Update - April 5, 2018

Widespread snowfall in the Dakotas and northeastern Wyoming led to some drought relief this week. Areas of abnormally dry (D0) conditions in eastern North Dakota, western South Dakota, and northeastern Wyoming were reduced in size, along with a reduction of moderate drought (D1) conditions in western South Dakota. The area of severe drought (D2) that spans across portions of the western Dakotas improved on the South Dakota side, but expanded further into North Dakota. Extreme drought (D3) areas expanded as well in eastern Colorado and central Kansas, along with the expansion of exceptional drought (D4) conditions in southwestern Kansas.

As of April 5th, the statewide Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) of Colorado was 67% of median and statewide SWE in Wyoming was above 100% of median. Also, this week’s USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin reported winter wheat crop conditions ranked 47% poor to very poor in Kansas and 22% poor to very poor in Colorado.

The Climate Prediction Center’s 6-10 day outlook is favoring below-normal temperatures for North Dakota, South Dakota, northern Nebraska, and most of Wyoming while Kansas, much of Colorado, and southern Nebraska are favored to experience above-normal temperatures. Below-normal precipitation is also favored in eastern Colorado, western Kansas, and southwestern Nebraska, while above-normal precipitation is favored in northwestern Colorado, extreme southeastern Kansas, northeastern Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and most of Wyoming. The 7-day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast is predicting precipitation across a majority of the High Plains with the highest amounts expected in Wyoming and Colorado’s mountainous regions, as well as a swath through the Dakotas.