Since August, Nebraska and Iowa have waited weeks for more beneficial rainfall. After the driest September in history and an October which saw no rain for the first three weeks, it seemed we would never get any more rain. Thankfully, the last week of October changed that as an active weather pattern took hold and our region for multiple rounds of beneficial rainfall!
Our first round of beneficial rain occurred just before Halloween when showers and thunderstorms rolled through. Unfortunately, some of those thunderstorms were strong, with major damage in Falls City when high winds of 90+ mph blew through.
Despite the damage, the rainfall was great for many neighborhoods with most picking up between 1/2" and 2"!
Then came the rain in early November, waves of rain impacted the area from Saturday, November 2 to Tuesday, November 5. This rain was excellent, with most picking up between 1-2". The 1.47" of rain at Eppley Airfield matched the average monthly rainfall in November!
Thankfully, Omaha was on the northern edge of the really heavy rain. From Oklahoma to Missouri, rainfall of 6-10+" caused deadly flooding in those areas, and several tornadoes from the severe weather.
How did this rain impact the drought? Before the pre-Halloween and early November rainfall events, the drought was slowly but steadily expanding across the viewing area. In the drought monitor from last week, most of the area was in the severe drought (3/5) category, with a spot near Norfolk in the extreme drought (4/5) category.
The drought monitor released on Thursday morning has brought good improvement to many neighborhoods, particularly across western Iowa and southeast Nebraska. Many spots dropped a category from the 3/5 to a 2/5, or from the 2/5 to a 1/5. In Omaha, a few went from severe drought to moderate drought. The drought remained unchanged over eastern and northeastern Nebraska.
With more rain on the way this weekend into early next week, this will continue to chip away at the drought, but completely getting rid of the drought takes time. Let's hope this active pattern holds, for the daily forecast, check out the weather page.
