National Weather Service Text Product Display

Drought Information Statement
Issued by NWS North Platte, NE
Versions: 1 2 3 4
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AXUS73 KLBF 210614 RRA
DGTLBF
NEZ004>010-022>029-035>038-056>059-069>071-094-242359-

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTH PLATTE NE
113 AM CDT FRI MAY 21 2021

...DROUGHT CONDITIONS HAVE IMPROVED ACROSS ALL OF WESTERN AND NORTH
CENTRAL NEBRASKA OVER THE PAST MONTH...


.SYNOPSIS...

SINCE THE MIDDLE OF APRIL AND INTO THE FIRST HALF OF MAY...ABUNDANT
PRECIPITATION HAD OCCURRED ACROSS MOST OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL
NEBRASKA. THE ABUNDANCE IN PRECIPITATION HAD LED TO AN IMPROVEMENT
IN DROUGHT CONDITIONS ACROSS THE AREA IN THE PAST 30 DAYS.


.LOCAL AREAS AFFECTED...

AS OF MAY 20TH...ACCORDING TO THE US DROUGHT MONITOR...MODERATE
DROUGHT CONDITIONS WERE OCCURRING OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF
SHERIDAN...GARDEN AND DEUEL COUNTIES...AS WELL AS...FRONTIER COUNTY.
ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL
NEBRASKA...ABNORMALLY DRY TO NON DROUGHT CONDITIONS WERE OCCURRING.


.CLIMATE SUMMARY...

SUMMARY OF RECENT MONTHLY PRECIPITATION FROM SELECTED STATIONS
ACROSS WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. THE SUMMARY INCLUDES THE
PREVIOUS 12 MONTH PRECIPITATION TOTALS...MAY 2020 TO APRIL 2021..THE
PREVIOUS 6 MONTH PRECIPITATION TOTALS...NOVEMBER 2020 TO APRIL
2021...THE PREVIOUS 3 MONTH PRECIPITATION TOTALS...FEBRUARY TO
APRIL...AND THE PRECIPITATION TOTALS SO FAR IN MAY...THROUGH THE
19TH.


              12 MONTH PRECIP/INCHES       6 MONTH PRECIP/INCHES

LOCATION       MAY-APR  NORMAL   DEP   |  NOV-APR  NORMAL    DEP

NORTH PLATTE    19.27   21.08  -1.81   |    8.09    5.19   +2.90
VALENTINE       20.80   20.90  -0.10   |    6.60    5.42   +1.18
BROKEN BOW *    22.70   22.90  -0.20   |    7.80    5.63   +2.17
IMPERIAL *      12.85   17.47  -4.62   |    5.00    3.84   +1.16


               3 MONTH PRECIP/INCHES     THRU MAY 19 PRECIP/INCHES
LOCATION       FEB-APR  NORMAL   DEP   |   MAY 19  NORMAL    DEP

NORTH PLATTE     6.68    3.86  +2.82   |    3.67    1.86   +1.81
VALENTINE        5.35    4.10  +1.25   |    2.28    2.01   +0.27
BROKEN BOW *     5.91    4.32  +1.59   |    1.37    2.21   -0.84
IMPERIAL *       4.24    2.94  +1.30   |    3.64    1.69   +1.95

PRIMARY LOCATION OF PRECIPITATION DATA IS FROM THE AUTOMATED SENSORS
AT THE AIRPORT.

*  PRECIPITATION DATA INCLUDES A COMBINATION OF AUTOMATED SENSORS
   AND COOPERATIVE DATA.


AVERAGE TEMPERATURES FOR THE LAST 3 MONTHS WERE BELOW NORMAL ACROSS
WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA IN FEBRUARY...ABOVE NORMAL IN
MARCH AND NEAR NORMAL IN APRIL.

                           AVERAGE TEMPERATURE/DEGREE F

LOCATION      FEB  NORMAL  DEP | MAR  NORMAL  DEP | APR  NORMAL  DEP

NORTH PLATTE  17.3  29.0 -11.9 | 43.1  38.0  +5.1 | 46.9  48.2  -1.3
VALENTINE     17.4  27.2  -9.8 | 43.0  36.2  +6.8 | 46.6  46.7  -0.1
BROKEN BOW    15.3  28.0 -12.7 | 42.7  37.7  +5.0 | 47.4  47.9  -0.5
IMPERIAL      20.1  31.5 -11.4 | 42.8  39.8  +3.0 | 48.0  48.5  -0.5


.RIVER AND RESERVOIR CONDITIONS...

RIVER LEVELS ON THE SOUTH PLATTE WERE RUNNING IN THE 76TH TO 90TH
PERCENTILE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. RIVER LEVELS ON THE LOUP AND
NIOBRARA RIVERS WERE GENERALLY IN THE 76TH TO 90TH PERCENTILE FOR
THIS TIME OF YEAR. RIVER LEVELS ALONG THE NORTH PLATTE SYSTEM BELOW
LAKE MCCONAUGHY WERE NEAR NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. STREAMS IN
THE FRENCHMAN AND STINKING WATER BASINS IN SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA WERE
RUNNING IN THE 10TH TO 24TH PERCENTILE.

LAKE MCCONAUGHY CURRENTLY HAS AN ELEVATION OF 3250.1 FEET OR 76.1%
OF CAPACITY. THIS COMPARES TO AN ELEVATION OF 3258.4 FEET ONE YEAR
AGO.

.FIRE DANGER IMPACTS...

SPRING AND SUMMER GREENUP ARE WELL UNDERWAY ACROSS WESTERN AND NORTH
CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND RECENT RAINS HAVE LED TO THIS GREENUP.
LOCATIONS IN THE EASTERN NEBRASKA PANHANDLE HOWEVER MAY BE
SUSCEPTIBLE TO FIRE STARTS IF THE RIGHT CONDITIONS OCCUR.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT THE NORTH PLATTE NWS FIRE WEATHER
WEB SITE PROVIDED BELOW...OR CONTACT THE NORTH PLATTE FIRE WEATHER
FOCAL POINT /DARREN SNIVELY/ DIRECTLY.

HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/LBF/FIRE


.PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE OUTLOOKS...

THE LATEST 6 TO 10 DAY OUTLOOK...COVERING THE PERIOD FROM MAY 26TH
THROUGH THE 30TH CALLS FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND ABOVE
NORMAL PRECIPITATION. THE LATEST 8 TO 14 DAY OUTLOOK...COVERING THE
PERIOD FROM MAY 28TH THROUGH JUNE 3RD CALLS FOR NEAR NORMAL
TEMPERATURES AND ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION.

THE LATEST 30 DAY OUTLOOK FOR JUNE CALLS FOR ABOVE NORMAL
TEMPERATURES FOR ALL OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. THE
PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK FOR JUNE CALLS FOR EQUAL CHANCES FOR
ABOVE...BELOW OR NEAR NORMAL PRECIPITATION FOR LOCATIONS EAST OF A
LINE FROM VALENTINE TO NORTH PLATTE. WEST OF THIS LINE...BELOW
NORMAL PRECIPITATION IS FORECAST.

THE LATEST 3 MONTH TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK FOR JUNE...JULY AND AUGUST
CALLS FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES ALL OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL
NEBRASKA. THE PRECIPITATION OUTLOOK FOR THE SAME TIME PERIOD IS FOR
BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION FOR ALL OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL
NEBRASKA.


.QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS...

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS INFORMATION

PLEASE CONTACT:

CHRIS BUTTLER CLIMATE SERVICES FOCAL POINT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
NORTH PLATTE NE CHRISTOPHER.BUTTLER@NOAA.GOV


.RELATED WEB SITES...
LOCAL WEATHER...CLIMATE...FIRE AND WATER INFORMATION
HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/LBF U.S. DROUGHT PORTAL HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.GOV

ADDITIONAL RIVER AND RESERVOIR INFORMATION USGS -
HTTP://WATER.USGS.GOV CNPPID - HTTP://CNPPID.COM

U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR HTTP://DROUGHTMONITOR.UNL.EDU

CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER HTTP://WWW.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV

.ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...

THE DROUGHT MONITOR IS A MULTI-AGENCY EFFORT INVOLVING THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE AND NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER...THE USDA...STATE
AND REGIONAL CENTER CLIMATOLOGISTS AND THE DROUGHT MITIGATION
CENTER. INFORMATION FOR THIS STATEMENT HAS BEEN GATHERED FROM NWS
AND FAA OBSERVATION SITES...STATE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
SERVICES...USGS...AND THE CENTRAL NEBRASKA PUBLIC POWER AND
IRRIGATION DISTRICT.

.NEXT ISSUANCE...

THIS PRODUCT WILL BE ROUTINELY ISSUED ON THE THIRD THURSDAY OF THE
MONTH. THE NEXT ISSUANCE WILL BE JUNE 17 2021.

$$

CLB
National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office
