Drought — Jewell, Kansas

2024-02-01 to 2024-02-29 · Jewell, Kansas

Wider weather episode

February 2024 marked the third-consecutive month with widespread above normal precipitation within North Central Kansas, allowing a slow-but-steady improvement in drought conditions to march onward. Nonetheless, at least small sections of five of the six local counties spent the entire month assigned Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor, while a small part of a sixth county (Phillips) began the month with D2 before it was removed on the Feb. 13th USDM issuance. In fact, February marked the 25th-consecutive month with D2 afflicting portions of the local area. But focusing on the positive, the biggest news of the month was the removal of Extreme Drought (D3) from western Rooks County on the Feb. 13th USDM...marking the first time in ten months that the entire six-county domain was void of D3. In addition to the D3 removal, February featured a modest reduction in the areal coverage of D2, but also a fairly significant decrease in Moderate Drought (D1) and even a slight increase in places deemed to be void of all drought categories whatsoever. These encouraging trends were spurred on by above normal monthly precipitation across nearly 95 percent of the area...mainly in the form of rain and not snow (see below for more detailed monthly precipitation info). Focusing on February county-level drought category specifics, the month opened with the breakdown as follows: 1) D3 prevailed within parts of the western half of Rooks County (but only constituted around 5% of the total six-county domain)...2) A few splotches of D2 nicked at least small portions of all six counties (but only comprised around 10% of the total area)...3) D1 blanketed roughly 63% of North Central Kansas, including the vast majority of Jewell, Osborne and Mitchell counties...4) the remaining roughly 22% of the area (almost entirely within Phillips/Smith counties) consisted of a varied mix of D0 and locations deemed void of all drought whatsoever (D-nothing). As the month kicked into gear, it turned out that all improvements (including widespread 1-category and limited 2-category) occurred during the first two USDM issuances of February, with status quo holding firm through the latter half of the month. These early-February improvements were highlighted by: 1) a swath of 2-category improvement (from D3 to D1) over west-central Rooks County...2) a significant reduction in the coverage of D1. In the wake of these welcomed changes, the end-of-month drought category situation stood as follows: 1) A few tiny pockets of D2 lingered within parts of all local counties except Phillips (but constituted merely around 5% of the six-county area)...2) D1 blanketed roughly 44% of North Central Kansas, including the majority of Jewel, Mitchell and Rooks counties...3) D0 covered roughly 41% of the area, including the majority of Smith and Osborne counties...4) the remaining approximately 10% of the area (entirely within northern Phillips/Smith counties) was assigned drought-free D-nothing.

Turning to February 2024 precipitation details, it was overall excellent news for the third-straight month, as roughly 95% of North Central Kansas tallied at least slightly above normal precipitation (meaning more than roughly 0.82), and around 80% of the area checked in between 140-205% of normal. The overall-wettest areas (greatest concentration of totals around 1.50 or more) resided within the four western-most local counties, while slightly lower (but still mainly above normal amounts) focused within Jewell/Mitchell counties in the east. Per around 30 NWS and CoCoRaHS observers, some of the very-highest monthly totals featured: 2.58 near Damar, 2.05 in Natoma, 1.71 near Plainville and 1.62 at Webster Dam. In fact, the NWS observer near Plainville recorded its 12th-wettest February on record out of 116, and the wettest since 2001. Meanwhile, a few of the lowest (but still near-normal) February precipitation totals included: 0.70 near Scottsville, 0.71 ten miles south-southwest of Beloit and 0.75 in Cawker City. On one final note, despite sites such as the NWS Cooperative Observer in Beloit notching above normal precipitation for the fourth-straight month, long-term deficits remained intact, as Beloit totaled only 60.93 over the 35-month stretch from April 2021-February 2024...24.86 below normal/71% of normal.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1157441. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.