Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin for December 2025–February 2026. Dated March 2026.

Temperatures have been exceptionally warm these past few months, with the basin recording its second-warmest winter. Precipitation was predominantly below normal this winter, aside from a few areas that did receive some snow.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin for September–November 2025. Dated December 2025.

Primarily driven by warmer low temperatures, it was exceptionally hot this fall throughout the entire Basin. A total of 144 counties ranked in the top three warmest falls, while 40 of those ranked as the warmest. Precipitation this fall was hit or miss across the Basin.

In March 2020, Moderate to Severe Drought (D1-D2) intensified rapidly to Exceptional Drought (D4) along the lower Rio Grande in Texas, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Over the next five years, drought severity waxed and waned across the Southern Plains, shifting location and extent but never leaving the region. Drought touched the lives of nearly every resident of the Southern Plains states (Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas).

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin for June–August 2025. Dated September 2025.

Temperatures were slightly above normal for the majority of the basin. This summer was also extremely humid, particularly in Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Precipitation this summer was, for the most part, above normal for the eastern half of the basin. A total of nine counties in Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota recorded their wettest summer on record, while another thirty ranked in the top five.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin for March–May 2025. Dated June 2025.

Spring began on a warm note, with dozens of counties in Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota ranking in the top 5 warmest. Precipitation was above normal in the western parts of the Dakotas this spring due to abundant rainfall in the latter half of May.