Recent rain providing some drought relief in Nebraska counties

The National Drought Mitigation Center’s newest weekly drought map shows slight improvements in Nebraska’s drought conditions.

Climatologist Brian Fuchs said the National Drought Mitigation Center’s most recent update shows 75% of the state is in some level of drought – an improvement from 91% earlier this year. He attributes the relief to recent rains and heavy, wet snowfall.

“We typically should be seeing more precipitation as we start to get into the wetter time of year,” Fuchs said. “One advantage of some of the late snows – I know that it can be problematic for ranchers that are having calves drop at that time – is the snows are wetter, so we do see a little bit more moisture with them.”

Fuchs said those brief drops of snow helped dry conditions in some of Nebraska’s northwestern and north-central counties – areas that are seeing some of the worst drought conditions. Eastern Nebraska, also experiencing abnormally dry to severe drought conditions, saw some relief after recent rain and severe storms swept through earlier this spring.

Despite the small improvements, Fuchs said there are still concerns about drought conditions.

“I won’t say we’re out of the woods by any means, but we have seen some improvements. And realistically, this time of year, we should be seeing regular precipitation,” Fuchs said.

The drought outlook for the next few months will probably remain mostly the same, Fuchs expects. He said portions of Nebraska that are just considered abnormally dry right now or without any drought will probably stay that way.

However, portions of southwestern and south-central Nebraska could see drought develop.

“And the rest of the state where we’re seeing drought, it looks like that is going to persist until the end of June. Realistically, that’s not great news for [agricultural] producers,” Fuchs said.

But timely rains could make a difference in this year’s growing season for both crop and livestock producers. Fuchs said that helped save crops and grass fields last year.

“Going forward, it really is going to be a matter of when the rains come – how much do we get and do they come during those critical periods when we need them?" Fuchs said.