Drought — Jewell, Kansas

2024-08-20 to 2024-08-31 · Jewell, Kansas

Wider weather episode

Although August 2024 was not as dry across most of this six county North Central Kansas area compared to the prior few months, the majority of locations still registered at least slightly below normal monthly rainfall, which in tandem with gradually increasing precipitation deficits over the summer prompted at least one-category degradation across much of the area per the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). This included expansion of both Moderate Drought (D1) and Severe Drought (D2), with August marking the second-straight month with D2 plaguing parts of the area (following a 2.5-month respite between May and July). During August, nearly two-thirds of the six-county domain tallied at least slightly below normal rainfall (see below for more detailed August precipitation info). Focusing on county-level USDM drought specifics during August, things opened with around 96% of North Central Kansas assigned either D1 or Abnormally Dry (D0), with all counties except Phillips featuring considerable coverage of D1. Meanwhile, the other 4% of the area consisted of a small splotch of D2 within mainly the southwestern quadrant of Mitchell County. During the first few USDM updates of the month, D1 expanded to blanket the vast majority of the area, while a localized batch of appreciable rain actually erased the Mitchell County D2. However, this absence of D2 from North Central Kansas was short-lived, as the Aug. 20th USDM assigned a larger zone of D2 to much of especially Jewell/Mitchell counties. As a result, the end-of-August drought breakdown for the six counties stood as follows: 1) D2 now enveloped roughly one-fourth of the domain (mainly Jewell/northern Mitchell counties)...2) Around 68% of the area featured D1 (including all or most of Rooks/Osborne/Smith counties)...3) The final approximately 7% of the area consisted of D0 within mainly the northwestern one-third of Phillips County.

Turning to August 2024 rainfall details, approximately 64% of North Central Kansas registered at least slightly below normal totals (meaning less than roughly 3.50). On a positive note however, there were really no bone dry spots, as around 92% of the six-county area received at least two-thirds of normal (meaning at least 2.30). The overall-lowest totals concentrated across much of northern Jewell and northeastern Smith counties. Meanwhile, the roughly 36% of the area that saw modestly above normal precipitation was scattered about various pockets of the domain, but one of the primary zones resided in southern Osborne/Mitchell counties. Per around 30 NWS/CoCoRaHS observers, along with a few Kansas Mesonet stations, some of the driest reported August gauge totals included: 2.09 at Lovewell Dam, 2.25 five miles west-southwest of Beloit, and 2.67 in Lebanon. Meanwhile, a few of the wettest known monthly tallies featured: 4.96 seven miles northeast of Beloit, 4.95 ten miles east of Hunter, and 4.55 six miles east of Phillipsburg. Per the NWS Cooperative observer in Beloit (which ended the month within the recently assigned D2), year-to-date precipitation through the end of August totaled 15.85...6.28 below normal/72% of normal. However, the majority of this annual deficit had built up over the summer, with the cumulative June-August total registering only 7.04...5.15 below normal/58% of normal.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1199452. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.