Rainfall from Nov. 18, (NWS Hastings, Courtesy)
HASTINGS — November has been an unusually wet month so far. With several sites throughout central Nebraska already established as a top ten wettest, with over a week left to go.
According to the National Weather Service – Hastings, Kearney currently ranks at the 5th wettest November out of 129 years, it’s also the wettest since 2015.
Grand Island ranks 8th wettest, out of 130 and wettest since 1996. Hastings is a bit behind at 13th wettest out of 130 and wettest since 1998.
The area experienced a large amount of rainfall in a 24-hour period on Monday, Nov. 18.
Regional reports included, Spalding, 2.14 inches; Central City, 1.91 inches; Minden, 1.75 inches; Grand Island, 1.46 inches; Hebron, 1.43 inches; Aurora, 1.41 inches; Holdrege, 1.33 inches; Kearney, 1.12 inches; Hastings, 0.89 inches and Lexington, 0.32 inches.
The rainfall only slightly moderated the ongoing drought conditions, with only areas north of the Tri-Cities seeing a change in listed conditions.
“Moderate to heavy precipitation was widespread across the southern and eastern reaches of the High Plains Region,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, “In the areas of heaviest precipitation (1.5 to approaching 3.0 inches), improvement was introduced. This included significant parts of Kansas, southeastern Colorado, eastern sections of Nebraska and South Dakota, and a relatively small area in southeastern North Dakota.”
“The remainder of the region, under a regime of light to moderate precipitation at best, dryness and drought assessments were unchanged,” the U.S. Drought Monitor concluded.
Drought conditions reported on Nov. 21, 2024, (U.S. Drought Monitor, Courtesy)
