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High Plains Weekly Drought Update - November 19, 2020
Author: Gannon Rush - High Plains Regional Climate Center
Published: 2020-11-19 00:00:00
Updated: 2020-11-20 22:44:40.958011
Drought conditions continued to intensify across Kansas and Colorado this past week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. After another dry week, severe drought (D2), moderate drought (D1), and abnormally dry (D0) conditions all expanded across central and western portions of the state. In Colorado, exceptional drought (D4) conditions expanded across the southwestern corner of the state. Meanwhile, beneficial precipitation led to improvements in D2 and D0 conditions in west-central Wyoming. Elsewhere across the High Plains, drought conditions remained unchanged.
According to the November 17th USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin, soybean and corn harvest across the High Plains were near completion. Winter wheat conditions continued to struggle in drought-stricken areas of Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, with over 20% of wheat rated as poor to very poor. Topsoil and subsoil moisture continued to be rather depleted, with more than 50% of topsoil and subsoil moisture rated short to very short in all High Plains states.
The Climate Prediction Center’s 6-10 day outlook has increased chances for above-normal temperatures throughout Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, eastern Wyoming, and central and eastern Colorado. Increased chances for below-normal precipitation are present across Colorado, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Nebraska, and western and central Kansas. Meanwhile, above-normal precipitation is favored for southeastern Kansas. The National Weather Service’s 7-day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast indicates that 0.50-2.00” of precipitation may fall over an area stretching from southeastern Colorado eastward through southern and eastern Kansas and up into southeastern Nebraska, which may help improve drought conditions.
Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday and closure of the University, the HPRCC will not produce a weekly drought update next week. We will resume our updates on Thursday, December 3rd. If you would like to check out the U.S. Drought Monitor map next week, please go to https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/.
