Will Isaac Bring Relief from Drought?

August 30, 2012

Released this morning, the latest drought monitor shows slight improvement to Central Kansas and the Northwest corner of Missouri. These areas went from extreme to severe drought. Elsewhere, the impact of the rain last weekend left drought conditions unchanged. ALL could use days of steady rain.

Does Isaac spell R-E-L-I-E-F? The latest forecast analysis shows that areas of Missouri, adjacent portions of Arkansas, and the Mississippi River Valley could be in line for significant rainfall from the remnants of now Tropical Storm Isaac. Will it be enough to end the drought? Look closely at the latest drought monitor maps below and see what category of drought you are currently in.

Kansas Drought Monitor	Missouri Drought Monitor
Nebraska Drought Monitor

If you are in the exceptional drought that encompasses such areas as Kansas City, Columbia or Joplin, you will need at least 9 inches of rainfall to alleviate the drought conditions to the point of being only abnormally dry. Some of those areas actually need in excess of a foot of rain to improve conditions to being only abnormally dry. Those in the severe drought category, will need at least 6-10 inches of rainfall to alleviate drought conditions. On Isaac’s current trajectory, a few isolated areas of Missouri and adjacent areas may be able to approach those critical values.

It’s a tough year when hopes for rain hang on a hurricane. Unfortunately for the Midwest, no other sustained wet pattern is predicted at this time.

Much Needed Rain for Central Plains

Saturday, August 25

It has been at least 65 days since any of the locations listed below have had an inch or more rain in a single day. For Kirksville, Missouri it has been a whopping 134 days!

While areas of Kansas and northwest Missouri have already seen significant rain, for the rest of Missouri it brings up an interesting question.

When was the last time it rained an inch in a single day?

Kirksville, MO – April 13
Sedalia, MO – April 29
Joplin, MO – May 31
St. Louis, MO – June 11
Kansas City International – June 11
Downtown Kansas City – June 11
St. Joseph, MO – June 11
Columbia, MO – June 16
Jefferson City, MO – June 16
Chillicothe, MO – June 16
Olathe, KS – June 21
Lee’s Summit, MO – June 21

Drought Monitor (July 24, 2012)

July 26, 2012

The latest drought monitor has been released and the Central Plains saw conditions slightly worsen over the past week. Although there was some rainfall that occurred this morning across the area, the latest update only includes precipitation through 6am CST on July 24. The contiguous United States has just over 80% of the county with abnormally dry or worse conditions, a whopping 63.9% actually in some form of drought. To make matters worse, over 20% of the country is in extreme or exceptional drought, first time since mid-February 2003. Below is a closer look at individual states:

Nebraska

100% of the state is in severe or worse drought with a majority (64%) actually in extreme or worse. Eastern Nebraska has managed some rain recently which has provided it with slightly better conditions, while the central portion of the state sees the first exceptional drought rating for Nebraska since July of 2004. Like many other states, three months ago there was a single acre in Nebraska being designated in severe or worse drought, indicating just how quickly the lack of rainfall has built up.

Kansas

Kansas also has 100% of the state in severe or worse drought conditions with the latest drought update, and a large majority (over 72%) in extreme or exceptional drought. Extreme drought covers much of western Kansas and extends across portions of the entire state, including the metro areas of Wichita, Topeka and the Kansas City area. While less than a year ago there was nearly 18% of the state in exceptional drought compared to the current 9% the difference lies in the sheer expansive nature of this drought, only 75% of the state was in a form of drought then.

Missouri

As you could have expected, Missouri is another one of the four states that has 100% of their area in severe or worse drought (Iowa is the other along with Kansas and Nebraska). The southeast portion of the state is hardest hit, where parts of 11 counties have been designated in exceptional or worse drought. Extreme drought covers a large portion of the state, including the St. Louis Metro, Kansas City Metro and the cities of Springfield, Columbia and many more. The cities of Jefferson City and Joplin are currently designated in only severe drought, however with little rain in sight for the next week they could see the extreme category in the next update.