HYDROLOGIC OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 1230 PM CST THU FEB 22 2007
...DROUGHT CONDITIONS CONTINUE TO IMPROVE ACROSS CENTRAL... SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS...
.SYNOPSIS...
DROUGHT CONDITIONS CONTINUED TO IMPROVE ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA OVER THE LAST MONTH. HOWEVER... MODERATE TO SEVERE DROUGHT /D1 TO D2/ IS STILL OCCURRING ACROSS MUCH OF THE AREA WITH THE WORST CONDITIONS ACROSS FAR SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS. THE ENTIRE REGION REMAINS BELOW NORMAL FOR PRECIPITATION DATING BACK TO JANUARY OF 2006. FOR THE PERIOD OF JANUARY 2006 THROUGH THE END OF JANUARY 2007... RUSSELL HAD A PRECIPITATION DEFICIT OF OF 5.40 INCHES... SALINA HAD A DEFICIT OF 7.21 INCHES... WICHITA HAD A DEFICIT OF ONLY 0.65 INCHES AND CHANUTE HAD A DEFICIT OF A WHOPPING 13.74 INCHES. WITH WARMER TEMPERATURES OF SPRING JUST AROUND THE CORNER... THE REGION WILL NEED TO START SEEING MONTHLY PRECIPITATION SURPLUSES TO AVOID GOING BACK TO MORE SEVERE LEVELS OF DROUGHT.
.LOCAL AREA AFFECTED...
THERE ARE FIVE LEVELS OF INTENSITY DEPICTED ON THE U.S.DROUGHT MONITOR. THE USDM LEVELS ARE THE FOLLOWING:
D0 - ABNORMALLY DRY... GOING INTO DROUGHT - CAUSES SHORT-TERM DRYNESS SLOWING PLANTING... GROWTH OF CROPS OR PASTURES AND ABOVE AVERAGE FIRE RISK. COMING OUT OF DROUGHT - THERE ARE SOME LINGERING WATER DEFICITS... PASTURES AND CROPS ARE NOT FULLY RECOVERED. D1 - MODERATE DROUGHT... SOME DAMAGE TO CROPS OR PASTURES... HIGH FIRE RISK EXISTS... STREAMS... RESERVOIRS OR WELLS ARE LOW... SOME WATER SHORTAGES DEVELOP OR ARE IMMINENT AND VOLUNTARY USE RESTRICTIONS ARE REQUESTED. D2 - SEVERE DROUGHT... CROP OR PASTURE LOSSES ARE LIKELY... FIRE RISK IS VERY HIGH... WATER SHORTAGES ARE COMMON... WATER RESTRICTIONS MAY BE IMPOSED. D3 - EXTREME DROUGHT... MAJOR CROP AND PASTURE LOSSES... FIRE DANGER IS EXTREME AND WIDESPREAD WATER SHORTAGES AND RESTRICTIONS ARE POSSIBLE. D4 - EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT... EXCEPTIONAL AND WIDESPREAD CROP AND PASTURE LOSSES... EXCEPTIONAL FIRE DANGER EXISTS... SHORTAGES OF WATER IN RESERVOIRS... STREAMS... AND WELLS OCCUR CREATING WATER EMERGENCIES.
D4 - EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE NOT OCCURRING AT THIS TIME ACROSS ANY PORTION OF CENTRAL... SOUTH CENTRAL OR SOUTHEAST KANSAS.
D3 - EXTREME DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE NOT OCCURRING AT THIS TIME ACROSS ANY PORTION OF CENTRAL... SOUTH CENTRAL OR SOUTHEAST KANSAS.
D2 - SEVERE DROUGHT CONDITIONS EXIST ACROSS SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF HARPER AND SUMNER COUNTIES.
D1 - MODERATE DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE OCCURRING ACROSS ALL OF KINGMAN... RENO... RICE... MCPHERSON... HARVEY... SEDGWICK... COWLEY... MARION... BUTLER AND ELK COUNTIES. IN ADDITION... MUCH OF CHAUTAUQUA... GREENWOOD... AND CHASE COUNTIES AS WELL AS SOUTHERN SALINE... SOUTHEASTERN ELLSWORTH AND NORTHERN HARPER AND SUMNER COUNTIES ARE EXPERIENCING MODERATE DROUGHT.
D0 - ABNORMALLY DRY CONDITIONS EXIST ACROSS CENTRAL BARTON AND ELLSWORTH COUNTIES AS WELL AS SOUTHEASTERN PORTIONS OF RUSSELL AND LINCOLN COUNTIES.
.STATE AND LOCAL ACTIONS...
THE LATEST COUNTY DROUGHT DECLARATIONS ISSUED BY THE GOVERNOR INDICATE THAT THE ENTIRE STATE OF KANSAS IS UNDER A DROUGHT WARNING. A DROUGHT WARNING MEANS THAT A SEVERE DROUGHT EXISTS IN THE STATE WITH CROP OR PASTURE LOSSES LIKELY... THERE ARE SOME STOCK WATER SHORTAGES... VERY HIGH RANGELAND FIRE DANGER EXISTS AND SOME PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY SHORTAGES AND SOME STREAMFLOW TARGETS NOT BEING MET.
.CLIMATE SUMMARY...
THE FOLLOWING TABLE SHOWS PRECIPITATION DEPARTURES FROM NORMAL FOR THE PERIOD OF JANUARY 2006 THROUGH THE END OF JANUARY 2007 FOR AREAS REPRESENTING CENTRAL... SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS.
RUSSELL SALINA WICHITA CHANUTE MONTH DEPARTURE DEPARTURE DEPARTURE DEPARTURE JAN '06 -0.58 -0.66 -0.73 -0.27 FEB -0.78 -1.06 -1.02 -1.90 MAR -0.85 -1.06 -0.43 -1.32 APR -0.52 +0.68 -0.58 +1.66 MAY -2.23 -3.10 +2.60 -0.11 JUN -0.02 +0.47 +2.07 -3.20 JUL -3.06 -3.53 -1.15 -1.79 AUG +2.45 +3.21 +2.99 -1.47 SEP -0.10 -0.64 -2.24 -3.05 OCT -0.17 -0.95 -1.51 -0.98 NOV -0.96 -1.53 -1.36 -1.20 DEC +1.91 +1.37 +0.34 +0.53 JAN '07 -0.49 -0.41 +0.37 -0.64 ----- ----- ----- ----- SUM -5.40 -7.21 -0.65 -13.74
.SOIL MOISTURE CONDITIONS...
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS ARE SEEING SOIL MOISTURE ANOMALIES OF 20 TO 60 MM (0.78 - 2.36 INCHES) BELOW NORMAL.
.RIVER AND STREAMFLOW CONDITIONS...
MOST OF THE RIVERS ACROSS THE REGION ARE RUNNING AT NEAR NORMAL OR BELOW NORMAL LEVELS.
.PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK...
THE LATEST THREE MONTH TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK... VALID THROUGH MID-MAY... ISSUED BY THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER... CALLS FOR EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE... BELOW OR NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATION FOR THE ENTIRE REGION.
.QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS...
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT...
CHRIS BOWMAN DROUGHT FOCAL POINT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 2142 SOUTH TYLER RD WICHITA, KS 67209 316-942-3102 CHRIS.BOWMAN@NOAA.GOV
.RELATED WEB SITES...
US DROUGHT MONITOR HTTP://DROUGHT.UNL.EDU/DM KANSAS WATER OFFICE HTTP://WWW.KWO.ORG US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY HTTP://WATER.USGS.GOV/WATERWATCH/ CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER HTTP://WWW.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/INDEX.HTML NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/ICT NWS WICHITA DROUGHT PAGE HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/ICT/?N=DROUGHT
ALL WEB SITES SHOULD BE IN LOWER CASE CHARACTERS.
.ACKNOWLEDEGMENTS...
THE US DROUGHT MONITOR IS A WEEKLY COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BETWEEN A NUMBER OF FEDERAL AGENCIES INCLUDING NOAA/NWS... US 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.
.NEXT ISSUANCE...
THE NEXT ISSUANCE OF THIS DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE AROUND THE MIDDLE OF MARCH.
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