Drought As of Sept. 20, 69% of the U.S. was experiencing abnormal dryness/drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, up three percentage points from the previous week. Drought conditions expanded and intensified in HRW areas of the Plains.
The Drought Monitor noted: “Parts of the High Plains region had rain while other parts were dry. Up to two inches fell locally in parts of several states. Especially dry areas occurred in parts of the Dakotas, Montana, Kansas, and Colorado. The lack of rain was accompanied by unusually hot temperatures regionwide, which increased evapotranspiration and accelerated the drying of soils. The drying soils and dry ponds and waterholes led to extensive expansion of D0-D2 in North Dakota and Montana, and D0-D4 in South Dakota and Kansas. Groundwater levels are low with wells in Wichita, Kansas, going dry. According to media reports, a water emergency developed in Caney, a town in southeast Kansas, when water stopped flowing over the Little Caney River’s dam; there are 6 weeks of water supply left. D1 and D2 expanded in parts of Colorado, and D3 expanded in southeast Wyoming while other parts of the state saw contraction of D0 and D1. Nebraska also had some contraction of D2, but expansion of D1-D3 in other parts of the state. According to USDA statistics, all states in the region had half or more of the topsoil moisture short or very short of moisture. In Nebraska and Kansas, three-fourths of the pasture and rangeland was in poor to very poor condition, while the value was 50% for Colorado, 55% for South Dakota, and 58% for Montana.”
Across the Plains, dryness/drought covers 84% of Colorado (unchanged from last week), 97% of Kansas (up 1 point), 91% of Montana (up 6 points), 100% of Nebraska (unchanged), 100% of Oklahoma (unchanged), 89% of South Dakota (up 7 points) and 79% of Texas (up 1 point).
USDA estimates the drought footprint covers 57% of winter wheat acres (up 3 points).