Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.The recent, welcome snowfall did just what it had to do relieved drought pressure across much of the Midlands.
This week's drought map, published Thursday by the Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, indicates a return to normal for most of Nebraska. Last week, the northern half of the state was considered in or near drought because of lack of rain and snow.
Most of Nebraska received some snow or rain. The highest amounts, between a half-inch and 2 inches of precipitation, fell across central and southern Nebraska and western Iowa.
Very little snow or rain fell in the far northern reaches of the Midlands, and serious drought conditions remain in northwest Iowa on into the Dakotas and Minnesota.
The last 6 months brought less than half of normal precipitation to most of Minnesota and adjacent sections of Iowa and South Dakota, said Richard Tinker of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center.
Over the next week to two weeks, southern Nebraska and most of Iowa are projected to see above-normal precipitation, he said.
Tinker is the drought center's team member who wrote this week's analysis.
Source: UNL Drought Mitigation Center, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
Click on the map below to view the U.S. Drought Monitor map
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