Drought conditions present across Nebraska as of March 31, (U.S. Drought Monitor, Courtesy)
KEARNEY — After a record dry first three months of 2026, extreme drought conditions expanded across Nebraska as the calendar turned over to April.
Much needed rainfall occurred April 1 and was still falling into the morning of April 2, but much more will be needed to put a dent into the deeply entrenched drought conditions that expanded in the latest update by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The new update shows that extreme drought, D3, conditions greatly expanded across Nebraska, including a swath from far southwestern border with Colorado all the way to the edge of Butler County in eastern Nebraska.
Additional areas of D3 conditions included parts of the Nebraska Panhandle and a region reaching from the Tri-Cities to the north all the way to the South Dakota border.
All of Nebraska is under some type of drought conditions and 42 percent is under extreme drought conditions.
“This U.S. Drought Monitor week saw extensive degradations across areas of the West, Plains, South, and Southeast,” per the national summary issued on March 31.
According to the National Weather Service – Hastings, their entire coverage area was dry from Jan. 1 through March 31, but there was record or near record dryness for their western region. Most places recorded between 0.35 to 1.50 inches, but there were notable outliers.
From January to March, the areas with the lowest precipitation included Lexington, 0.13 inches, driest on record out of 78 years; Arapahoe, 0.14 inches; Cambridge, 0.22 inches, second driest on record out of 118 years; Elwood, 0.23 inches, second driest on record out of 123 years and Edison, 0.38 inches.
For reference, normal Jan. 1 through March 31 precipitation across the region ranges from 2.20 to 3.10 inches, generally lower in the west and higher in the east.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
