Weekly High Plains Drought Update - April 26, 2018

Drought Intensifies in Southern Colorado

A range of weather conditions occurred across the High Plains during the past week. In the southern part of the region, temperatures were well below normal throughout Nebraska and Kansas, with warmer temperatures in western Colorado. Welcomed precipitation fell across parts of this region, especially in southern Kansas. Unfortunately, it was not enough to vastly improve drought conditions. Southern Colorado missed out on this precipitation, and part of the area was degraded to extreme drought (D3) conditions on the U.S. Drought Monitor map. In the Northern Plains, there were no changes to the drought depiction this week, although short-term precipitation deficits in far northern North Dakota are being monitored for possible degradation in the future.

Winter wheat continued to suffer in Kansas and Colorado. According to the most recent U.S. Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin, 49% of the Kansas winter wheat crop and 29% of the crop in Colorado were in poor to very poor condition. See the graphics below that indicate the winter wheat growing areas experiencing drought, as well as winter wheat conditions by state. Topsoil moisture was not faring well either, with 64% of topsoil moisture in Kansas and 53% of topsoil moisture in Colorado rated short to very short.

The Climate Prediction Center’s 6-10 day outlook indicates that below-normal temperatures are expected in a swath from eastern North Dakota southwestward through eastern Colorado and western and central Kansas. Above-normal precipitation is favored for much of Colorado, while below-normal precipitation is expected across the majority of the Dakotas, northern Wyoming, and southeastern Kansas. The 7-day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast indicates that precipitation is expected for much of the High Plains in the next week, with the highest amounts in eastern portions of Kansas and Nebraska.