Drought conditions continue to worsen over the entire area

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The latest drought monitor map is out and it continues to show worsening conditions with no hope for an end in sight. The week to week change in the map is rather impressive with all severity levels increasing in coverage greatly over Nebraska and Iowa.

While the drought conditions are part of a problem that been developing long before this year, the rainfall deficits for this year alone are rather impressive on their own. Omaha is over 3.5″ below average as of August 10th but areas around Sioux City are over 10″ below average for the year so far.

This isn’t a problem that a few heavy rains would fix either. According to the National Weather Service Office in Valley it would take 150%-175% of average precipitation over the next 6 months to end the drought. Unfortunately quite the opposite is in the forecast for the next 2-4 weeks as August looks to end on a dry note heading into September. This problem only will get worse in the short term.