NWS releases drought outlook

Although a few storms have come through the past few weeks, they haven’t been enough to help with the deficit of moisture in Thayer County.

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center released its seasonal drought outlook on July 18. In this outlook, the center said that in south central Nebraska the drought is expected to  persist or intensify throughout the rest of the summer.

The current drought condition map released from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that all of Thayer County is in a moderate drought. Roughly 98 percent of the state is in some sort of drought ranging from abnormally dry to exceptional.

Although the outlook on the drought doesn’t look promising, improvements have been seen within the past few months. It has been the end of May since Thayer County’s drought condition was in the severe category and April since any part of the county’s drought was considered extreme.

The next drought condition map will be released on July 26 and the next seasonal drought outlook will be posted on August 15.