Drought in Eastern Cherry, Nebraska

Over far southeastern Cherry County, exceptional (D4) drought conditions improved to extreme (D3) drought conditions by the end of January. Over northeastern Cherry county, severe (D2) drought conditions persisted through the end of the month. The cooperative observer at Valentine Lakes NWR reported 1.92 inches of precipitation in January. This was 1.48 inches above the normal of 0.44 inches. At the Valentine airport, 2.36 inches of precipitation fell in January. This was 2.04 inches above the normal of 0.32 inches.

Precipitation across western and north central was well above normal for January and led to improvement in drought conditions across portions of north central, central and southwestern Nebraska. Precipitation totals for cooperative observers across the area ranged from 1.16 inches at Ellsworth 2W to 5.25 inches at Purdum. Heavy snow occurred across the area on January 18th with upwards of 2 feet of snow being reported in Custer County. North Platte had its heaviest calendar day snowfall on record with 13.9 inches on the 18th. Valentine had its wettest January on record.