Drought in Nebraska, September 1 to 30, 2024

Following an August that brought at least slightly below normal rainfall to most of South Central Nebraska, September 2024 unfortunately took dryness to a whole new level, as many places within the 24-county area endured a Top-5 to Top-10 driest September on record (see below for more detailed monthly precipitation info). That being said, weekly updates of the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) only painted modest categorical degradation during the month, with more notable changes holding off until the following month (see October 2024 narrative for more details). Still, some limited one-category degradation did occur during September, and a small swath of Severe Drought (D2) held firm across southern Thayer and extreme southeastern Nuckolls Counties...marking the second-straight month with D2 plaguing parts of the area (following a 3.5-month respite between early-May and late-August). Taking a closer look at county-level USDM drought category specifics across South Central Nebraska, September opened with the aforementioned zone of D2 in southern Thayer/southeastern Nuckolls counties constituting only around 1 percent of the 24-county area. Meanwhile, roughly 8% of the area contained Moderate Drought/D1 (mostly within Thayer/Nuckolls/Fillmore/Webster counties), and approximately 30% of the domain featured Abnormally Dry/D0 (mainly concentrated in counties along/east of Highway 281 and along/south of I-80). Finally, the remaining roughly 61% of the area boasted drought-free D-nothing. Over the course of the month, most spots retained status quo, as the USDM held off until October to make more notable changes. That being said, various parts of the domain did experience one-category degradation (either from D0 to D1, or D-nothing to D0), with most of these changes concentrated within counties south of Interstate 80. As a result, the end-of-month drought breakdown for South Central Nebraska stood as follows: 1) The small zone of D2 in Thayer/Nuckolls counties still included only around 1% of the area...2) Roughly 17% of the area was now assigned D1 (including most of Thayer/Nuckolls/Clay/Fillmore counties)...3) D0 now encompassed roughly 37% of the domain...4) The remaining approximately 45% of the area featured drought-free D-nothing (mainly within counties along and north of Interstate 80).

Turning to September 2024 rainfall details, the situation was quite bleak. Not only did around 97% of South Central Nebraska pick up less than half-normal rainfall, but roughly 75% of locations registered LESS THAN ONE-FOURTH NORMAL (normal monthly rainfall being around 2.07). Not surprisingly, several long-time NWS stations had a Top-5 driest September (including the Tri Cities airports), and a few even had their DRIEST ON RECORD. This included Arcadia (0.01...driest out of 125) and Loup City (0.05...driest of 126). Of the tiny fraction of the domain that registered slightly above normal rainfall, it mainly occurred within a pocket of northeastern Greeley County (confirmed by gauge) and possibly also far southwestern Webster County (radar estimated). Per around 150 NWS and NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS observers, some of the paltriest September totals included: 0.01 near Litchfield and Arcadia, 0.02 near Elyria, 0.03 near Rockville, and 0.05 in/near several towns including Loup City, Bradshaw and Elba. Among the very few reported totals of at least 1 were: 2.10 eight miles south-southwest of Spalding, 1.31 near St. Libory and 1.18 in Spalding. Within the limited swath of D2 drought in Thayer County, the NWS Cooperative Observer in Hubbell reported a year-to-date precipitation total of 20.52 through the end of September (5.06 below normal/80% of normal). However, the last-90-days total as of Sept. 30th was merely 4.93...a substantial 5.80 below normal/46% of normal.