HASTINGS — With April in the books, it is clear that many areas across south central Nebraska saw higher than average precipitation, with areas south of Hastings missing out.
According to the National Weather Service – Hastings, much of their coverage area had around 1.00 to 4.75 inches the coverage of the highest amounts was north of a Beaver City-Hastings-York line.
The areas that recorded the highest precipitation amounts included:
Aurora – 5.78 inches
NW Elwood – 5.72 inches
Boelus – 5.42 inches
Riverdale – 5.42 inches
Rockville – 5.20 inches
The areas with the lowest precipitation in the NWS Hastings coverage area included their Kansas coverage area with Webster Dam, Kan., with only 0.39 inches. The area in Nebraska that saw the lowest amounts was Coweles with .79 inches.
The Tri-Cities Airports recorded the following during April:
Grand Island – 4.11 inches, 163 percent of normal, 19th wettest on record
Hastings – 1.95 inches, 72 percent of normal, 47th driest on record
Kearney – 4.34 inches, 162 percent of normal, 19th wettest on record
The normal precipitation for April included 2.24 inches to 2.80 inches, generally lower in the west and higher in the east.
Drought conditions across Nebraska remain largely unchanged in the last U.S. Drought Monitor update on Thursday, April 25.
There is a lobe of severe drought, D2, conditions east of the Tri-Cities. Hall and Adams counties remain under moderate drought, D1, conditions and Buffalo County sees a gradient of no drought conditions in the west, abnormally dry, D0, in the center and moderate drought in the east.
“Overall, the region was generally dry during the past week except for a few areas that benefitted from isolated shower activity in northeastern Kansas, north central and northeastern Nebraska, and southwestern South Dakota,” the U.S. Drought Monitor stated.
