Drought in Mcpherson, Kansas

Only western portions of the county entered the month in severe drought (D2) status. The far southwest corner worsened by the 5th when it was put into extreme drought (D3) status. This expanded eastward on the 12th but stayed confined to the southwest quadrant of the county. By the end of the month the county ranged from abnormally dry in the far northeast corner to extreme drought in the southwest. Rainfall totals in much of the drought areas were around an inch according to CoCoRaHS and cooperative observers through the 26th.

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.