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Update on Drought Conditions in the High Plains - October 27, 2015
Author: Judson Buescher - High Plains Regional Climate Center
Published: 2015-10-30 19:58:15
Updated:
A slow-moving storm that had first arrived in California on October 15 drifted eastward eventually lifting northward across the Plains, providing beneficial moisture for emerging winter wheat. However, precipitation missed the areas that needed it the moist such as south central and northeastern Kansas. Due to this lack of moisture moderate drought (D1) was introduced in these areas. Other parts of the plains, on the other hand, saw improvements in drought including central and southern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming, western Nebraska, northern South Dakota, and southeastern North Dakota.
Widespread rain fell from the southern and central High Plains northward into the Dakotas, hampering fieldwork but providing much-needed moisture for emerging winter grains. . A substantial portion of winter wheat was rated very poor to poor in Colorado (16%) and Kansas (15%). Although many areas of the Plains received rain that should help to revive pastures and promote winter wheat growth, eastern Kansas remained dry. In those areas, there was some introduction or expansion of dryness (D0) and moderate drought (D1). In Kansas, statewide topsoil moisture was 52% very short to short by October 25. However, topsoil moisture was at least 70% very short to short in central, north-central, and northeastern Kansas.
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 |
|
10/27/2015 |
59.12 |
40.88 |
3.95 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
|
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 |
.