CENTRAL, SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS DROUGHT INFORMATION
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Chris Bowman - Meteorologist
National Weather Service - Wichita, KS Updated on July 18th, 2008 |
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Summary: Wet Spring and Summer Keep Drought Conditions in Western Kansas Central, South Central and Southeast Kansas have had a wet Spring and Summer so far. In contrast, Western Kansas has been extremely dry. More detailed information is available from the Dodge City and Goodland offices. For a much more detailed look at drought and climate conditions across the state the Kansas Water Office creates a monthly report, which can be found through this link, detailing trends in precipitation, reservoir levels and drought impacts. Routine issuance of this Drought Information Statement will resume when D1 drought conditions return the area. |
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US Drought Monitor The U.S. Drought Monitor is a weekly collaborative effort between a number of federal agencies including NOAA/NWS, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Drought Mitigation Center. The categories of drought are defined as follows: Moderate Drought (D1) - Some damage to crops, pastures; fire risk high; streams, reservoirs, or wells low, some water shortages developing or imminent, voluntary water use restrictions requested. Severe Drought (D2) - Crop or pasture losses likely; fire risk very high; water shortages common; water restrictions imposed. Extreme Drought (D3) - Major crop/pasture losses; extreme fire danger; widespread water shortages or restrictions. Exceptional Drought (D4) - Exceptional and widespread crop/pasture losses; exceptional fire risk; shortages of water in reservoirs, streams, and wells, creating water emergencies. To report impacts of drought go to the Drought Impact Reporter page or send an email to Chris Bowman. |
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Local Area Affected: Exceptional Drought (D4) conditions are not occurring at this time across any portions of Central, South Central or Southeast Kansas. Extreme Drought (D3) conditions are not occurring at this time across any portions of Central, South Central or Southeast Kansas. Severe Drought (D2) conditions are not occurring at this time across any portions of Central, South Central or Southeast Kansas. Moderate Drought (D1) conditions are not occurring at this time across any portions of Central, South Central or Southeast Kansas. Abnormally dry (D0) conditions are not occurring at this time across any portions of Central, South Central or Southeast Kansas. Click here for a 12 week animation of the US Drought Monitor. |
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Local Climatology: For updated climate information please see our local climate page. |
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Precipitation and Temperature Outlooks: The official precipitation and temperature outlooks provided in the following links are produced by the the Climate Prediction Center. Downscaled climate outlook information, known as the Local 3 Month Temperature Outlook, is also now available.
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The following images are graphics of the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) created by the National Drought Mitigation Center. The SPI is a relatively new drought index based only on precipitation. The SPI can be used to monitor conditions on a variety of time scales. This temporal flexibility allows the SPI to be useful in both short-term agricultural and long-term hydrological applications. A more detailed and in-depth explanation of the SPI can be found here. It should be noted that this is an experimental climate product. These maps include provisional, preliminary and final data. Very limited quality control is performed on provisional data, and these products should be used with caution. The best available data is incorporated as it becomes available.
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Soil Moisture Conditions: The images below depict current soil moisture conditions across the continental United States and the calculated average evaporation for one and two weeks from the current date. More details about soil moisture and evaporation can be found here.
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Vegetation Drought Response: The following image is the Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI) which is produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center with the collaboration with the US Geological Survey's (USGS) Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS), and the High Plains Regional Climate Center and is sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA). For more information regarding this product please go here. The VegDRI is updated every two weeks during the growing season.
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River and Streamflow Conditions: This image, produced by the United States Geological Survey, displays the current streamflows for various rivers in Kansas and color codes the streamflow according to the above table. |
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Questions or Comments: If you have any questions or comments about this information please contact:
Chris Bowman Drought Focal Point National Weather Service - Wichita, KS chris.bowman@noaa.gov |
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Acknowledgments: The U.S. Drought Monitor is a weekly collaborative effort between a number of federal agencies including NOAA/NWS, U.S. Department of Agriculture state and regional center climatologists and the National Drought Mitigation Center. Information for this statement has been gathered from NWS and FAA observation sites, the USGS and the Kansas Water Office. |
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Routine issuance of this Drought Information Statement will resume when D1 drought conditions return the area.
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