Drought — Jewell, Kansas

2024-01-01 to 2024-01-31 · Jewell, Kansas

Wider weather episode

During January 2024, North Central Kansas experienced some improvement in drought conditions for the second-straight month, thanks to widespread above normal snowfall/liquid equivalent precipitation. Nonetheless, at least small portions of all six area counties were assigned at least Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) throughout the month, while around 80 percent of the area remained in at least Moderate Drought (D1) throughout the month as a long-term drought situation persisted. January marked the 24th-consecutive month with at-least-D2 afflicting portions of the local area, and the 10th-straight month with at least limited coverage of D3 (Extreme Drought). But focusing on the positive, the areal coverage of both D3/D2 diminished during the month, with these unusually positive drought trends...by mid-winter standards...prompted by essentially the entire area receiving above normal monthly precipitation (see below for more specific monthly precipitation details). Focusing on January county-level drought category specifics, the month opened with the categorical breakdown as follows: 1) D3 prevailed across the majority of Rooks County (constituting around 12% of the six-county domain)...2) Various swaths of D2 were found in at least small portions of all six counties, but with the greatest areal coverage in Mitchell County (D2 comprised around 30% of North Central Kansas)...3) Areas of D1 were present within all six counties, but most prevalent within Jewell and Osborne counties (D1 made up around 39% of the total area)...4) Abnormally Dry (D0) prevailed across much of Phillips and smaller parts of Smith Counties (D0 accounting for roughly 15% of the total area)...5) The remaining roughly 4% of the area consisted of a portion of mainly northwestern Smith County that was deemed void of all drought categories whatsoever (D-nothing). As the month wore on (and as already noted above), the areal coverage of both D3/D2 diminished within North Central Kansas. In most affected locations, this was a one-category improvement, but for parts of mainly southeastern Rooks County it was actually a two-category improvement (from D3 to D1). As a result of these various improvements, the drought category situation at month's end stood as follows: 1) D3 now prevailed within mainly only parts of the western half of Rooks County (constituting only around 5% of the six-county domain)...2) A few splotches of D2 nicked at least small portions of all six counties (but now only comprising around 10% of the total area)...3) In response to the reduction of D3/D2, the areal coverage of D1 increased accordingly...now blanketing roughly 66% of North Central Kansas, and including the vast majority of Jewell, Osborne and Mitchell counties...4) the aforementioned zones of D0 and D-nothing within Phillips and Smith counties remained unchanged through the month (their combined areas still accounting for roughly 19% of the six-county area).

Turning to January 2024 precipitation details, it was overall great news for the second consecutive month, as essentially all of North Central Kansas measured above normal monthly precipitation (meaning more than roughly 0.63), and roughly 10-15% of the domain boasted at least twice its January normal. Per 23 NWS and CoCoRaHS observers, some of the very-highest monthly tallies featured: 1.78 seven miles north-northeast of Natoma, 1.45 four miles west-northwest of Plainville, 1.30 in Smith Center and 1.23 nine miles east of Hunter. Various long-time NWS stations notched a Top-10 wettest January, including Plainville 4WNW (6th-wettest) and Smith Center (3rd-wettest). Going hand in hand, those same stations also recorded their 3rd-snowiest January on record (13.7 at Plainville 4WNW and 13.0 in Smith Center), and their snowiest January since 1993. Meanwhile, a few of the lowest (but still slightly above normal) January precipitation totals included: 0.69 at Lovewell Dam, 0.74 in Phillipsburg and 0.87 ten miles west-northwest of Stockton. On one final note, despite sites such as the NWS Cooperative Observer in Beloit picking up solidly above normal precipitation for the second-straight month, long-term deficits remained very evident, as Beloit totaled only 59.63 over the 34-month stretch from April 2021-January 2024...25.34 below normal/70% of normal.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1151277. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.