Last week, we started to see the benefit of the recent heavy rain across Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri, but the rain was still falling at that point. This week's drought monitor shows the full impact of the rain. The U.S. Drought Monitor, released Thursday, June 28, uses data up to June 26.
Drought conditions continued to improve across southern Nebraska this week, with all but parts of 3 counties now considered to be under a moderate drought. The remaining areas shaded in yellow below show areas that are abnormally dry.
The heaviest rain fell in Nebraska the last two weeks, but Iowa saw its share of rain the last two weeks too, helping to improve drought conditions there as well.
Breaking down the numbers, only 7 percent of Nebraska remains under abnormally dry or worse conditions. That is about a 50 percent drop from last week.
In Iowa, 20 percent of the state is still dealing with at least abnormally dry conditions, down slightly from 24 percent a week ago. Still, drought conditions are heading in the right direction after that number was 71 percent to start the year.
Here's how Omaha is doing now with rain compared to average. As of June 29, Eppley Airfield is up to 6.55 inches of rain for the month, about 2.5 inches above average! That has brought our yearly total up to more than 13 inches, which is about 2 inches behind average.
It looks like we will be adding to these numbers shortly, with storms likely for the last weekend of the month.
