Drought — Greeley, Nebraska

2023-07-01 to 2023-07-31 · Greeley, Nebraska

Wider weather episode

During July 2023, at least parts of 22 of the 24 South Central Nebraska counties spent the entire month assigned at least Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), with all but a tiny fraction of the domain mired in at least Moderate Drought (D1) through the month as a long-term drought situation persisted. July marked the 18th-consecutive month with at-least-D2 plaguing portions of the local area, the 12th-straight month with at-least Extreme Drought (D3) afflicting some of the area, and the fourth consecutive month with worst-off Exceptional Drought (D4) maintaining its dire presence within a handful of eastern counties. That being said, on a fortunate note the overall-highest July rain totals happened to target the heart of the D4 area, helping to significantly whittle down the areal coverage of this worst-off category during the month. However, while many eastern locales experienced overall-positive drought trends during July, for South Central Nebraska as a whole it was actually a month of highly variable rainfall...including some places that were quite dry (see below for more specific precipitation details). Focusing on county-level USDM drought category specifics during July, the majority of South Central Nebraska remained stable/unchanged. However, portions of several far eastern counties (including most of Polk/York/Fillmore) along with pockets of a few far south central counties realized one-category improvement. One-category degradation was more limited in scope, mainly confined to southern sections of Webster, Nuckolls and Thayer counties in far southeast parts of the area. Digging into the details, the month began with the drought situation standing as follows: 1) Worst-off D4 encompassed much of the eastern one-fourth of the area (including all of Polk, Hamilton, York and Fillmore counties)...2) A relatively narrow buffer zone of D3 resided along the periphery of the D4 (including all of Adams and most of Hall counties)...3) The remainder of locations sported a varied mix of D2/D1, but with Gosper/Phelps being the only counties entirely assigned better-off D1. During July, most all categorical changes occurred with the second and third USDM issuances of the month, highlighted by a widespread one-category improvement (from D4 to D3) in eastern areas...including complete removal of D4 from Fillmore County along with large parts of Polk, York, Merrick and Clay counties. On another, more localized positive note farther west, a portion of southern Harlan County improved from D1 to Abnormally Dry D0, marking the first time since late-February that any part of South Central Nebraska was void of a D1-or-worse drought category. On a negative note, one-category degradation (from D2 to D3) unfolded in southern parts of Webster, Nuckolls and Thayer counties. At month's end, the drought situation had evolved to the following: 1) Despite a noticeable reduction in its areal coverage, worst-off D4 still encompassed most of Hamilton County, along with smaller portions of all bordering counties (along with parts of Nance County)...2) A fairly large area of D3 dominated the majority of counties along/east of Highway 14, along with large portions of Adams/Hall counties along Highway 281...3) The vast majority of the remainder of South Central Nebraska featured a varied mix of D2/D1, with D1 most prevalent in the southwest quadrant of the area...4) A small part of southern Harlan County boasted best-off D0.

Turning to July 2023 rainfall details, considerable variability was certainly the theme. The majority of the 24-county domain registered anywhere from 1.75-6.50 inches...generally 50-180 percent of normal. It was a relatively even-split between above/below normal totals, and while merely only around 5% of the area was drenched with at least twice-normal rainfall, on a positive note, no more than around 10% of the area suffered through amounts less than one-half of normal. In sharp contrast to recent preceding months, the overall-heaviest rain targeted far eastern counties (particularly Polk/York/Fillmore), along with parts of mainly Valley/Greeley counties in the far north. In contrast, many of the overall-lowest totals were clustered within a handful of south central/southeast counties such as Kearney/Adams/Webster/Nuckolls. Per around 170 NWS and NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS observers, some of the paltriest July rainfall totals included: 1.15 near Red Cloud, 1.36 near Nelson, 1.41 eight miles northwest of Superior and 1.42 in Kenesaw. In sharp contrast, among the very-highest monthly tallies featured: 9.14 near Waco, 8.27 in North Loup, 8.20 near McCool Junction and 7.52 near Elba. Based on official long-term NWS Cooperative Observer data, one of the most remarkable July turnarounds occurred near York, where the monthly rainfall of 7.31 at York 3N eclipsed the cumulative precipitation for the ENTIRE preceding six months of January-June (6.97).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1114567. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.