National Weather Service Text Product Display

Drought Information Statement
Issued by NWS Wichita, KS
Versions: 1 2
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AXUS73 KICT 140447
DGTICT
KSC001-009-015-017-019-035-049-053-073-077-079-095-099-105-113-115-
125-133-155-159-167-169-173-191-205-207-210000-

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
1145 PM CDT THU JUN 13 2013

...DROUGHT SEVERITY HAS EASED CONSIDERABLY ACROSS THE REGION AS NUMEROUS
THUNDERSTORMS FREQUENT THE NEIGHBORHOOD DURING THE MONTH OF MAY...

SYNOPSIS...

NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS INVADED THE KANSAS NEIGHBORHOOD DURING THE MONTH
OF MAY. ALTHOUGH IT WAS UNFORTUNATE THAT MANY OF THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE
SEVERE WITH VERY LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND OCCASIONALLY TORNADOES
THEY DID NONE-THE-LESS PRODUCE SOME VERY HEAVY RAINS THAT NO DOUBT EASED
THE DROUGHT SITUATION CONSIDERABLY. DURING THE MONTH OF MAY...MOST AREAS
RECEIVED BETWEEN 5 AND 10 INCHES OF RAIN WITH SOUTHEAST KANSAS GREATEST
BENEFICIARY.

WHEN MAY ARRIVED...AN EXTREME DROUGHT GRIPPED NEARLY ALL OF CENTRAL AND
SOUTH-CENTRAL KANSAS WHILE SOUTHEAST KANSAS WAS IN A SEVERE DROUGHT. BY
MID-JUNE...THE EXTREME DROUGHT WAS CONFINED TO WESTERN PARTS OF RUSSELL
AND BARTON COUNTIES. THE GREATEST IMPROVEMENTS OCCURRED IN THOSE PARTS
OF CENTRAL KANSAS ALONG...AND EAST...OF A LINE FROM LINCOLN TO LYONS AND
IN MOST OF SOUTHEAST KANSAS. IN FACT...BY MID-JUNE MOST OF SALINE COUNTY
HAD IMPROVED TO "ABNORMALLY DRY"...THE LOWEST OF THE 5 DROUGHT SEVERITY
INDICES. IN SOUTHEAST KANSAS...NO DROUGHT WAS OBSERVED AT ALL IN MOST OF
LABETTE AND NEOSHO COUNTIES.

A MUCH COOLER THAN NORMAL SPRING DEFINITELY AIDED THE DROUGHT ABATEMENT
PROCESS. THE 2-MONTH AVERAGE TEMPERATURES FOR MARCH AND APRIL WERE FROM
3 TO 6 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL. ON MARCH 23RD AND 24TH...SIGNIFICANT WINTER
WEATHER SPREAD 3 TO 6 INCHES OF SNOW ACROSS MANY AREAS DURING THE 2-DAY
PERIOD. A TOTAL OF 5.3 INCHES WERE MEASURED AT MID-CONTINENT AIRPORT BUT
THE MOST IMPRESSIVE ACCUMULATIONS WERE THE 6 TO 8 INCHES THAT BURIED ELK
AND ALLEN COUNTIES IN SOUTHEAST KANSAS.

SUMMARY OF IMPACTS...

STATE AND LOCAL ACTIONS:

IN AN EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT (D4)...EXCEPTIONAL AND WIDESPREAD CROP AND
PASTURE LOSSES RESULT. AN EXCEPTIONAL FIRE DANGER EXISTS...AND
SHORTAGES OF WATER IN RESERVOIRS...STREAMS...AND WELLS OCCUR CAUSING
WATER EMERGENCIES.

IN AN EXTREME DROUGHT (D3)...MAJOR CROP AND PASTURE LOSSES ARE LIKELY.
AN EXTREME FIRE DANGER EXISTS AND THAT WIDESPREAD WATER SHORTAGES AND
RESTRICTIONS ARE POSSIBLE.

IN A SEVERE DROUGHT (D2)...CROP AND PASTURE LOSSES ARE HIGH...A VERY
HIGH FIRE DANGER EXISTS...AND WATER RESTRICTIONS MAY BE REQUIRED WITH
WATER SHORTAGES COMMON.

IN A MODERATE DROUGHT (D1)...SOME DAMAGE TO CROPS AND PASTURE IS
POSSIBLE. A HIGH FIRE DANGER EXISTS. SOME WATER SHORTAGES DEVELOP OR
ARE IMMINENT AND THAT VOLUNTARY WATER USE RESTRICTIONS MAY BE REQUESTED.

CLIMATE SUMMARY...

PRECIPITATION...

THE FOLLOWING TABLE DISPLAYS THE MONTHLY PRECIPITATION DEPARTURES FROM
NORMAL FOR 2012 AS WELL AS FOR JANUARY AND FEBRUARY 2013.

                          WICHITA       SALINA       CHANUTE
MONTH                    DEPARTURE     DEPARTURE    DEPARTURE
2012
JUN                        -2.65         -1.89        -3.26
JUL                        -3.06         -2.25        -3.37
AUG                        -0.33         -1.25        -0.49
SEP                        -0.50         -0.64        +1.53
OCT                        -2.46         -1.08        -1.55
NOV                        -0.88         -0.93        -1.16
DEC                        -0.86         -0.83        -1.06

2013
JAN                        -0.26         +0.25        +1.11
FEB                        +1.27         +1.22        +1.19
MAR                        -0.58         -1.77        -1.59
APR                        +0.88         -0.72        -0.13
MAY                        +0.85         +2.27        +0.74
JUN (1ST-12TH)             -1.58         +0.06        -1.44

FROM MAY 14TH TO JUNE 12TH THE RAINFALL RECEIVED IN SEVERAL AREAS WAS
130 TO 200 PERCENT OF NORMAL! THIS WAS ESPECIALLY TRUE FOR SOUTHEAST
KANSAS WHERE LABETTE...NEOSHO...ALLEN AND MONTGOMERY COUNTIES RECEIVED
AN AMAZING 8 TO 12 INCHES. MOST OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH-CENTRAL KANSAS
RECEIVED BETWEEN 3.5 AND 6 INCH RAINFALLS.

TEMPERATURES...

AS STATED IN THE "SYNOPSIS" THE SPRING WAS MUCH COOLER THAN NORMAL AND
NO DOUBT GREATLY AIDED IN THE DROUGHT ABATEMENT PROCESS.

PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK...

FOR THE LATTER HALF OF JUNE THERE ARE STRONG INDICATIONS THAT MOST AREAS
WILL RECEIVE ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL...ESPECIALLY ACROSS CENTRAL KANSAS...
FROM THE 19TH TO THE 23RD...HOWEVER DURING THE LAST WEEK OF JUNE THERE
ARE INDICATIONS THAT THE PROBABILITIES FOR NORMAL OR BELOW NORMAL RAINS
MAY OCCUR. THE CHANCES FOR BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL SLOWLY INCREASE AS THE
SUMMER PROGRESSES.

FOR THE LATTER HALF OF JUNE THERE ARE NO CLEAR SIGNALS THAT TEMPERATURES
WILL BE ABOVE...NEAR...OR BELOW NORMAL BUT AS SUMMER PROGRESSES CHANCES
FOR ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES INCREASES...ESPECIALLY IN HARPER...KINGMAN
AND SUMNER COUNTIES.

HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...

SOIL MOISTURE:

AS OF JUNE 12TH...THE SOIL MOISTURE RANGED FROM AROUND 17.5 INCHES IN
SOUTHEAST KANSAS TO JUST OVER 9.5 INCHES IN RUSSELL AND BARTON COUNTIES.

RIVER AND STREAMFLOW:

FOR THE 28-DAY PERIOD ENDING ON JUNE 12TH MOST RIVERS AND STREAMS IN
SOUTH-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST KANSAS WERE EXPERIENCING NORMAL FLOW. THE
EXCEPTION WAS IN FAR SOUTHEAST KANSAS...WHERE THE FLOW ON THE BIG HILL
CREEK WAS MUCH ABOVE NORMAL IN CHERRYVALE. MOST RVIERS AND STREAMS IN
CENTRAL KANSAS WERE EXPERIENCING MUCH BELOW NORMAL STREAMFLOW.

NEXT ISSUANCE DATE...

THE NEXT DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED AROUND APRIL 18TH.

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.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...

THE U.S. 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.

.QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS...

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT INFORMATION
PLEASE CONTACT:

ERIC SCHMINKE OR ANDY KLEINSASSER
DROUGHT FOCAL POINTS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
2142 SOUTH TYLER RD
WICHITA, KS 67209
316-942-3102
ERIC.SCHMINKE@NOAA.GOV OR ANDY.KLEINSASSER@NOAA.GOV
National Weather Service National Headquarters
