Historic Rains Relieve Severe Drought Across Much of Kansas
For the past few years, Kansas has fluctuated between periods of extreme drought and mild drought, but this month, almost all areas of the state saw sweeping drought improvement thanks to the wettest November on record.
According to Assistant State Climatologist at Kansas State University Matthew Sittel, Kansas surpassed its 1909 record of 4.68 inches of average rainfall by half an inch, with 5.18 inches averaged across the state. Multiple towns saw more than an inch above their own historical records.
Sittel said the record-breaking precipitation was matched with a very warm November, creating multiple positives throughout the state.
This created an environment for nearly a third of the state to become drought-free by the end of last week. At the end of October, only 1.72% of the state had no drought conditions, and far southeast Kansas was still dealing with extreme (D3) drought conditions.
By the beginning of November, though, bouts of storms returned to the state, bringing significant, soaking rain events that allowed Kansas' soil to recoup the moisture it lost.
Many residents might wonder why they didn't see widespread flash flooding during heavy rainfall, and according to Sittel, it's because Kansas' soil was so dry that it soaked most of it into the ground.
READ MORE: University of Kansas Health System Addresses Rising Food Insecurity With New Programs
Kansas saw class one and two improvements, beginning on the eastern half during the week of Nov. 5, where towns like El Dorado in Butler County saw 6.58 inches of rain in one 24-hour period on Nov. 3.
During the week of Nov. 12, the western side saw its fair share of heavy rains, causing sweeping class one drought improvements and multiple areas of class two improvements.
Multiple regions in western Kansas saw more than a 1,000% precipitation surplus during that period, specifically southwest Kansas, which had 1,493% more rain than expected.
Sittel credits a large part of this precipitation to warmer-than-average temperatures and higher-than-average humidity for the entire month, with an average of 5 degrees above normal temperatures for the week of Nov. 5 and about 3 degrees above normal for Nov. 12.
These factors allowed multiple areas of Kansas to become drought-free, mainly in the south and southwest parts of the state.
More severe drought conditions continued for north central Kansas throughout the week of Nov. 12. However, after a few rain events on Nov. 17 and 18, all D2 or severe drought conditions lifted to moderate drought conditions or D1.
According to National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters in Hastings, Nebraska, Concordia will see chilly temperatures throughout the week, with little chance for precipitation. Meteorologists forecast snow for most of northeast Kansas on Saturday, which still has widespread abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions.