The first part of May has been fairly mild for us. We started off warmer, but then temperatures have been below average for the past few days. We’ve seen a few scattered showers and storms, but haven’t received much “real” rain. Let’s check in on Omaha’s rain totals so far for the month and this year and look ahead at some changes headed our way.
So far, we’ve only measured about half an inch of rain out at Eppley for the month of May. That puts us at almost an inch below where our average rainfall for May is at this point of the month. We haven’t seen a lot of rain in Omaha so far in 2020 either. In total, we’ve received just over four and a half inches of rain. That’s about three and a quarter inches below average!
Despite our rain totals being well below average, the state drought monitor currently only shows abnormally dry conditions through southern Nebraska. Of course, for Nebraska and Iowa our lack of drought conditions can be attributed to last year’s flooding leaving a lot of moisture still in the ground and overall mild temperatures.
The good news is we’re seeing a pattern change in our weather which will bring some more rain back into the forecast. We’ll also see our thunderstorm chances increase, too. This will help decrease the rain deficit for us.
