HASTINGS — Areas of central Nebraska saw unusually high precipitation amounts with most of the rainfall coming in a 24-hour period on Nov. 18.
Most areas saw between 2.0 and 3.6 inches, with the overall wettest areas being in the south and overall driest in the northwest, according to the National Weather Service – Hastings.
The amounts across the board were higher than the average November. The normal November precipitation across most of the coverage area ranges from 0.80 to 1.30 inches, generally lower in the west and higher in the east.
The overall wettest areas in Nebraska included Riverton, 4.18 inches, Minden, 3.94 inches – which was the wettest November on record for the community and Tobias, 3.82 inches.
The driest areas included Gothenburg, 1.57 inches, Arcadia, 1.64 inches, Elyria, 1.71 inches, Litchfield, 1.74 inches, Lexington, 1.84 inches and Ord, 1.89 inches.
The Tri-Cities saw higher than normal precipitation amounts in November, breaking the top ten records in two cases.
- Grand Island – 2.88 inches, 262 percent of normal, 8th wettest on record, wettest since 1996
- Hastings – 2.59 inches, 229 percent of normal, 13th wettest on record, wettest since 1998
- Kearney – 2.96 inches, 296 percent of normal, 5th wettest on record, wettest since 2015
A majority of the rainfall took place from one event over 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.
However, drought conditions across the state were only impacted slightly by the rainfall.
A majority of central Nebraska is under moderate drought, D1, conditions, while areas around Gosper, Phelps and Harlan counties are only in abnormally dry, D0, conditions.
“For the week, precipitation across the region was generally light and primarily restricted to eastern portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska as well as western and northern portions of Kansas,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, “In terms of average temperatures, cooler-than-normal temperatures were observed across the Dakotas, while the southern portion of the region experienced temperatures 1 to 5 deg F above normal in eastern Nebraska and Kansas.”
Drought conditions as of Nov. 26, (U.S. Drought Monitor, Courtesy)
