Nebraska’s drought conditions improved over the past week, with the share of the state in severe drought falling by 8.68 percentage points, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor update released Thursday.
The monitor’s Nebraska assessment lists 45.41% of the state as having no drought, an increase of 6.66 percentage points from the previous week. Another 19.28% is classified as abnormally dry, up 1.35 percentage points.
Nebraska’s latest categories
- 45.41% of the state: no drought, up 6.66 percentage points.
- 19.28%: abnormally dry, up 1.35 percentage points.
- 23.12%: moderate drought, up 0.67 percentage points.
- 7.04%: severe drought, down 8.68 percentage points.
- 4.52%: extreme drought, unchanged.
- 0.64%: exceptional drought, unchanged.
The update was prepared through the U.S. Drought Monitor, a joint effort involving the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Climate Prediction Center and the National Drought Mitigation Center. The National Drought Mitigation Center released the Oct. 29 assessment.
The regional review also reported changes in Iowa and South Dakota. Iowa’s drought classifications were unchanged, with 98.65% of the state listed as having no drought and 1.35% classified as abnormally dry. South Dakota’s no-drought area rose to 15.67%, while its moderate-drought area declined to 43.12%.
The drought monitor’s next update is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 5, covering conditions from Tuesday, Oct. 27, through Tuesday, Nov. 3. The regional assessment said multiple rounds of showers were expected through the weekend and into early next week, with the possibility that the precipitation would further improve drought classifications.
Drought categories measure the extent and intensity of dryness across a region. The categories used in Nebraska range from abnormally dry conditions to exceptional drought, the most severe classification in the system. The weekly percentages represent the share of the state assigned to each category in the monitor’s categorical area dataset.
