Drought in Kansas, October 1 to 31, 2013

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, October 2013 marked the 17th consecutive month during which drought of at least category D2 Severe intensity resided in some portion of this six county North Central Kansas area, prolonging one of the most notable droughts since the 1950s. Unfortunately, for the majority of the local area October was at least the second consecutive month of below normal precipitation. Over the course of the month, the U.S. Drought Monitor made no change whatsoever to drought classification within the area, keeping a west (worse) to east (better) disparity intact. As a result, the lingering effects of longer-term dryness kept D2 Severe Drought in place across northwestern Phillips and far western Rooks counties. Meanwhile, category D1 Moderate Drought prevailed across southeastern Phillips, northwestern Smith and the majority of Rooks counties. On the somewhat better-off side of things, category D0 Abnormally Dry conditions (considered to be one category better than true drought) continued across most of Smith, western Osborne and northern Jewell counties. Finally, all of Mitchell, most of Osborne and southern Jewell counties remained void of all drought or abnormally dry conditions for the time being.

Reports from around 20 NWS Cooperative Observers, and also radar-derived estimation, revealed that nearly the entire six-county area measured below normal October precipitation (based on long-term October normals generally between 1.80-2.10). Per NWS cooperative observers, a few of the highest October precipitation totals featured only 1.48 at Burr Oak, 1.36 two miles southwest of Alton and 1.33 at Webster Dam. On the driest side of the spectrum were sites such as Hunter (0.45), Glen Elder Lake (0.66) and Phillipsburg and Logan (0.76). Taking a look at longer-term year-to-date precipitation trends (Jan. 1-Oct. 23), most of the six-county area stood somewhere between 70-100% of normal, with Phillips County clearly the overall-driest including only 66% of normal at Phillipsburg. In contrast, Mitchell County remained the overall best-off, featuring 102% of normal at Beloit. The USDA Kansas Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending October 20th indicated that topsoil moisture within the north central district continued to degrade a bit, now rating 55% short or very short, compared to 48% in mid-September. During that same time frame, subsoil moisture in the north central counties also degraded slightly from 64 to 70% short or very short. The state-averaged corn crop rated 43% good or excellent and 27% poor or very poor, a slight improvement since mid-September. The soybean crop conditions changed little during the preceding five weeks, now rating 50% good or excellent and only 14% poor or very poor. Kansas sorghum rated 49% good or excellent and only 20% poor or very poor. State-averaged range and pasture conditions checked in 36% poor or very poor and 33% good or excellent, very similar to mid-September values. Stock water supplies also exhibited little change during that time frame, currently rating 73% adequate or surplus and only 27% short or very short.