Drought in Russell, Kansas

West central into southern portions of the county entered the month in severe drought (D2) status with the rest of the county in moderate drought (D1). There were improvements in the southern portion of the county on May 19th after rounds of thunderstorms in the middle of the month produced over five inches of rain south of Wilson according to CoCoRaHS observations. An area in the west central portions of the county remained in D2 status which was then expanded to the north on the 26th. Based on CoCoRaHS and cooperative observer observations, there was from 0.15 to 0.56 an inch through this time period for those locations.

Areas of drought impacting portions of central and south central Kansas persisted through much of the month. A degradation in the conditions occurred in Barton, McPherson and Rice counties with a classification of the extreme category (D3) beginning on May 5th. Northern Reno County was included in the degradation to D3 with a brief improvement following some rain for about a week before returning back to it by the end of the month.