Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin June – August 2018. Dated September 2018.
Summer began extremely warm but ended with cooler temperatures across much of the Basin. Colorado had its 3rd warmest summer on record. Several areas of the Basin had a wet summer. For instance, portions of southeastern South Dakota and northeastern Nebraska had one of their wettest summers on record. However, drought was an issue for some areas, impacting crops and water supplies in Colorado, the Dakotas, Kansas, and Missouri.
Drought Easing but Extreme Drought Lingers in Southern Plains. Robust Monsoon Anticipated.
- Drought peaked in May in northwest Oklahoma and the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin March – May 2018. Dated June 2018.
While the headlining story this season was the back-to-back temperature extremes of April and May, both flooding and drought impacted the region.
Below is a summary of the 21 May webinar, led by New Mexico State Climatologist Dave DuBois, on drought conditions, outlook, and impacts in the Southern Plains.
Drought Status
The 15 May U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) introduced D4 “Exceptional Drought” in all Southern Plains states, indicating that the current drought is comparable to the worst 1-2 droughts in the past 100 years.
Two-page summary of the April 23, 2018 webinar on current Southern Plains drought conditions, impacts, and outlook and wildfires. The information was provided by Brian Fuchs, Climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center, and Todd Lindley, National Weather Service Forecast Office in Norman, Oklahoma.
Due to the severity of drought conditions across the southern high plains, a collaboration of drought and climate experts will provide the latest information on current conditions, impacts and outlooks. In this March 16 webinar, John Nielsen-Gammon (Texas State Climatologist) will present information for the southern high plains, which includes portions of Kansas, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin December 2017 – February 2018. Dated March 2018.
A mix of conditions led to extremes this winter. Montana had its 11th wettest winter, while Kansas and Colorado had their 10th and 14th driest, respectively. Colorado also had its 10th warmest winter. Winter ended on a wet note in both upper and lower parts of the Basin. Missouri had its wettest February on record, while Montana had its 4th.
Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin September – November 2017. Dated December 2017.
Fall temperatures were above average for the majority of the Basin; however, the season ended quite warm, with many western states ranking in the top 10 warmest Novembers on record. This included Colorado (record warmest) and Wyoming (8th warmest). Precipitation, on the other hand, varied widely throughout the fall. This resulted in no top 10 rankings for wettest or driest fall.