Drought — Polk, Nebraska

2024-03-01 to 2024-03-31 · Polk, Nebraska

Wider weather episode

March 2024 marked the fourth-consecutive month with near to (at least slightly) above normal precipitation across the majority of South Central Nebraska, allowing a gradual whittling away of drought conditions to continue. Nonetheless, at least portions of eight of the 24 counties spent the entire month assigned Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor, while at least parts of seven other counties contained D2 for the majority of the month before improvement to Moderate Drought (D1) on the March 26th USDM issuance. March marked the 26th-consecutive month with at least D2 drought plaguing portions of the 24-county area. But focusing on the positive, March featured a continued reduction in the areal coverage of D2, as roughly 60% of the area measured at least slightly above normal precipitation in the form of both rain and snow (see below for more detailed monthly precipitation info). Focusing on March county-level USDM drought specifics, the month opened with roughly 63 percent of the 24-county area assigned drought categories ranging from D0 to D2, with a more detailed breakdown as follows: 1) D2 plagued roughly 42% of the 24-county area (almost entirely within counties along/east of Highway 281)...2) A narrow buffer zone of D1 flanked the western/southern fringes of the D2 (only comprising about 10% of the total domain)...3) A similarly-narrow swath of D0 ringed the western fringes of the D1 (only constituting about 8% of the area)...4) the remaining approximately 37% of South Central Nebraska (almost entirely west of Highway 281) was assigned drought-free D-nothing. Over the course of the month, the first three USDM updates featured almost no change whatsoever. However, a widespread rain/snow event between the 24th-26th brought a broad swath of 0.50-1.50 of liquid equivalent precipitation to much of the area, prompting a decent reduction in the areal coverage of D2, along with a slight reduction of D1/D0 along the western fringes of the drought zone (though this reduction of D2 prompted a necessary, corresponding increase in D1). In the wake of these welcomed changes, which slightly reduced the cumulative coverage of D0-D2 within South Central Nebraska from around 63% of the area to around 59%, the categorical breakdown at month's end stood as follows: 1) D2 coverage was roughly halved...now constituting only about 22% of the area (and completely within eastern counties along/east of Highway 14)...2) There was a corresponding increase in the areal coverage of D1 (now up to around 30% of the domain)...3) A very narrow buffer-zone of D0 flanked the western fringes of the D1 (only comprising roughly 7% of the total area)...4) the remaining approximately 41% of South Central Nebraska boasted drought-free D-nothing (still largely west of Highway 281).

Turning to March 2024 precipitation details, it was overall good news for the fourth-straight month. While not overly-wet by any means, nearly 60% of the 24-county area measured at least slightly above normal precipitation (meaning at least roughly 1.39), and almost just as importantly, nearly all places received at least half of their March normal (no locations acutely dry). Around 80% of South Central Nebraska tallied between 1-2 of total March precipitation...generally 70-140% of normal. The overall-wettest locations (greatest concentration of at least 2.00-2.50) were scattered throughout various pockets of counties along/west of Highway 281, while the overall-driest locales (greatest concentration of only 0.50-1.00) were largely found within the extreme western, southeastern and northeastern fringes of the area. Per around 120 NWS and NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS observers, some of the very-highest monthly tallies featured: 3.01 five miles southwest of Arapahoe, 2.34 in Ravenna, 2.24 on the north side of Hastings and 2.09 four miles east of Red Cloud. Meanwhile, a few of the lowest March totals included: 0.56 near Chester, 0.70 in Hebron and Cambridge, and 0.74 near Hardy. On one final note, despite sites such as Central Nebraska Regional Airport (GRI) registering above normal precipitation for the fourth-straight month, long-term deficits were still very evident in the raw data, as GRI totaled only 53.70 over the three-year stretch from April 2021-March 2024...26.13 BELOW normal/67% of normal.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1162165. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.