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Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains - October 20, 2015
Author: Judson Buescher - High Plains Regional Climate Center
Published: 2015-10-23 15:06:41
Updated:
The biggest news of the week is the expansion of moderate drought (D1) in southeastern North Dakota. However, this expansion was warranted due to short-term dryness (less than 25% of normal precipitation at 30-days, less than 50% at 60-days). Elsewhere in the Plains minor expansions of abnormal dryness (D0) were noted in every state. Some impact on winter grain emergence has been reported. Additionally a majority of topsoil moisture conditions in Kansas and Colorado are either short or very short.
In North Dakota warm, dry conditions allowed for good harvesting progress to be made. Corn, soybeans, and sunflowers harvested are all near or well above their five-year averages.South Dakota experienced much of the same weather as North Dakota. Above normal temperatures and little to no rainfall allowed for much harvesting to take place.
Most of Nebraska saw temperatures exceeding normal with only slight precipitation in the southwestern part of the state. However, the first frost of the season was noted in northern and western counties which aided crop drydown. A majority of Kansas saw well above average temperatures and remained dry for the week providing good harvest conditions.
In Colorado drier conditions persisted allowing fall harvest activities to ramp up. Row crop harvesting was virtually complete by the end of the week. Dry weather conditions prevailed in Wyoming. These dry conditions accelerated fieldwork and allowed harvesting of several row crops.
To learn more about the U.S. Drought Monitor, please see: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu
To see the U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook, please see the Climate Prediction Center
here:http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/sdo_summary.html
To see the areas of agriculture affected by the drought, please see the USDA link: http://www.usda.gov/oce/weather/Drought/AgInDrought.pdf
To see the impacts of the drought, please see the Drought Impact Reporter here: http://droughtreporter.unl.edu/
Check out the table below for the drought conditions over the past 2 months for the High Plains Region.
To view statistics of the High Plains Region and each state check out the Regional Statistics here:
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/MapsAndData/DataTables.aspx
Drought Condition (Percent Area): High Plains Region
|
Date |
None |
D0-D4 |
D1-D4 |
D2-D4 |
D3-D4 |
D4 |
|
10/20/2015 |
53.53 |
46.47 |
3.56 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
10/13/2015 |
66.75 |
33.25 |
0.82 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
10/06/2015 |
73.41 |
26.59 |
0.82 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
09/29/2015 |
75.58 |
24.42 |
0.82 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
09/22/2015 |
79.98 |
21.02 |
0.82 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
09/15/2015 |
86.37 |
13.63 |
0.42 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
09/08/2015 |
86.30 |
13.70 |
0.16 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
09/01/2015 |
91.92 |
8.08 |
0.16 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
08/25/2015 |
93.79 |
6.21 |
0.16 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |