A pocket of the most severe drought conditions, exceptional or D4, remains across Nance, Merrick, Polk, Hall, Hamilton, York, Adams, Clay, Fillmore, Nuckolls and Thayer counties. (U.S. Drought Monitor, Courtesy)
KEARNEY — There was practically no precipitation across Central Nebraska during the last week, conditions which haven’t done anything to help the lingering drought conditions.
“The Nov. 9-15 period featured zero precipitation across the vast majority of our coverage area. Only parts of a few southeastern local counties received a very meager rain amount, mainly no more than a few hundredths of an inch,” the National Weather Service – Hastings stated.
The lack of precipitation across the region has contributed to the continuation of the ongoing drought.
A pocket of the most severe drought conditions, exceptional or D4, remains across Nance, Merrick, Polk, Hall, Hamilton, York, Adams, Clay, Fillmore, Nuckolls and Thayer counties.
Extreme drought, D3, conditions are present in Nance, Howard, Merrick, Polk, Buffalo, Hall, Hamilton, York, Adams, Clay, Fillmore, Webster, Nuckolls, Thayer, Smith, Jewell, Rooks, Osborne and Mitchell counties in Nebraska and Kansas.
“Pockets of drought were mainly focused across eastern and southern sections of the region, with worsening conditions noted in parts of Kansas and neighboring states,” per the U.S. Drought Monitor.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, topsoil moisture was rated more than one-half very short to short on November 12 in Kanas (69%), Nebraska (61%), and Colorado (60%). On the same date, 17% of the U.S. winter wheat crop was rated in very poor to poor condition, although state-level numbers were higher in Kansas (33% very poor to poor) and Nebraska (18%).
“Fortunately for ongoing drought concerns, there appears to be a good chance for measurable rain across our entire coverage area mainly on Sunday-Monday, Nov. 19-20, with dry weather likely to prevail prior to this Nov. 17-18 and after Nov. 21-23,” per NWS Hastings.
Officially, cumulative precipitation for the Nov. 17-23 time frame from the very latest Weather Prediction Center forecast is forecast to range from 0.50-1.00 inches across most of our NWS Hastings coverage area.
