Drought in Hall, Nebraska

Following a six-month respite (since early-September 2025) with no worse than Moderate Drought (D1) assigned to any portion of this 24-county South Central Nebraska area by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), unfortunately March 2026 brought a steadily worsening drought situation back into the spotlight as much of the area not only spiraled into Severe Drought (D2), but also Extreme Drought (D3). This marked the first D3 within the area in 10 months (since May 2025) and marked the highest areal coverage of D3 in at least 2.5 years (since Sept. 2023). These rapid degradations not only stemmed from an incredibly dry March, but also from the inevitable consequence of cumulative dryness that had been building for six months...as October 2025-March 2026 ranked among the Top-4 driest October-March periods on record across most of the area (see below for more detailed precipitation info). Breaking down the significant changes in county-level USDM drought categories during March, the month opened with the vast majority of the 24-county domain assigned either D1 (mainly counties along/north of Interstate 80) or Abnormally Dry/D0 (most places south of I-80). Only a small sliver of the area (around 2 percent of it) was void of all drought categories whatsoever...mainly southeast Thayer County. As March unfolded, degradation came swiftly, with portions of several counties designated D2 on the very first USDM issuance of the month, and a steadily expanding introduction of D3 arriving just a few weeks later. As a result, the end-of-March categorical breakdown stood as follows (in order of drought severity): 1) roughly 52% of South Central Nebraska featured D3 (most prevalent within counties along/north of I-80)...2) approximately 32% of real estate contained D1...3) around 15% of the area was in D1 (almost entirely within southern-most counties along the Kansas border)...4) the remaining sliver of the area (far southern Thayer/Nuckolls counties) was allotted D0.

Turning to the dire precipitation details, and starting with the longer-term dryness (including a pronounced lack of snow) that defined Oct. 2025-March 2026, this six-month stretch registered among the Top-4 driest on record across South Central Nebraska. More specifically, based on a mix of observations from over 100 NWS and NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS observers along with some radar estimation, the majority of the 30-county area (roughly 80% of it) measured merely between 1.65-4.45...only 25-67% of normal. The highest concentration of amounts 2-or-less focused within primarily far northern and western counties, particularly: Dawson, Gosper, Furnas, Valley, Greeley, Buffalo. Citing six-month totals from just a few longtime NWS Cooperative Observer sites, the Canaday Power Plant (near Lexington) incredibly registered just 0.87 (17% of normal...driest on record), Arcadia 2W reported only 1.29 (21% of normal...driest on record) and Elwood 8S tallied just 1.36 (25% of normal...driest on record). At the Tri Cities airports, October-March ranked between the 2nd-4th driest on record, with totals ranging from 1.69 (Kearney) to 2.68 (Hastings). The only part of the area where precipitation amounts were even remotely close to normal (but still below it)...with at least 5...focused within portions of Thayer and Nuckolls counties. Drilling down to March itself, while October-February were dry enough, March truly brought things to a whole other level. In fact, the majority of South Central Nebraska measured somewhere between a paltry trace and 0.27 (essentially zero to 20% of normal). In fact, around 96% of the 24-county area observed LESS THAN ONE-FOURTH NORMAL March precipitation. Among the very driest of the dry, the following NWS stations were just a few of several that received a paltry trace for the month: Cambridge, Elwood 8S, Beaver City and Orleans 2W. In the Tri Cities, the airports registered just 0.12-0.14. Even the wettest parts of the domain were still significantly below normal, including totals of 0.63 at Hebron, 0.36 in St. Paul, and 0.35 at Belgrade. Needless to say, the significant dryness that spanned the end of 2025 into the start of 2026 set the stage for not only a rough start to the 2026 agricultural growing season in South Central Nebraska (meager soil moisture profiles) but also sparked an above-average early-spring wildfire threat. In addition to several smaller fires across the 24-county area, portions of southwestern Dawson County were ravaged by the massive Cottonwood Fire that ignited on March 12th in far southeastern Lincoln County.