In terms of rainfall, 2024 has been quite the year of extremes. We began the year on a dry note, a continuation of our dry pattern from the past couple of years. We had one of our driest February's on record. Then spring came, and it got real wet (and stormy). Omaha had its 2nd wettest May on record, falling just short of the record by 0.15". The wet weather continued into summer, but as we headed into August things got dry.
Then we got really dry in September. For the first two weeks, Omaha saw no rain! This has only happened 3 other times since record-keeping began in 1871. It rained the weekend of the 21-22nd, but most of the rain missed Omaha. Officially, Eppley Airfield has picked up 0.09" of rain for the entire month!
With the dry weather, the drought has returned to our area. The latest drought monitor issued Thursday morning shows drought expanding across much of northeast Nebraska into western Iowa and over southeast Nebraska. The Omaha metro is in the "abnormally dry" (1/5) category, technically not in drought yet, but trending that way.
So, are we on track to see the driest September on record? Yes.
According to our data, the driest September on record was wayyy back in 1888 with 0.24" of rain. So we are on track to beat that by a not-insignificant margin. Our forecasts show no rain chances through the end of the month, so this will likely go down as the driest September in Omaha's recorded history.
Now the question is, when will the rain return? Unfortunately, we may have to wait a bit longer. Long-range forecasts show minimal rain chances through the first week of October, with the Climate Prediction Center highlighting much of the country for the likelihood of dry weather through October 9th. There are signs that rain chances could return by mid-October, however.
If there is at least one fortunate sign, the big rains we saw over the spring mean the ground has a good reserve of water, meaning as the drought returns it won't have as severe of an impact as the one we recently broke earlier this year. Still, drought conditions will slowly envelop the region as we head into October.
For now, let's keep doing the rain dance and pray for rain to finally come to Nebraska and Iowa!
