This fall (despite it not feeling like it until recently) has been a tale of two eras. The dry era began in late August and lasted through late October when it hardly rained in Omaha, and we had the driest September on record. Then the pattern flipped, and we entered the wet era with several rounds of soaking rainfall from late October into November.
So far in November, we have received 3.63" of rain, almost double the average rainfall for the month! This has placed Omaha in 7th place for the wettest November on record, and we still have a few days to add to this total.
Going into the month, the drought was getting worse across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Nearly all of eastern Nebraska was in the "severe" (3/5) drought category, expanding farther into western Iowa.
Then the rain began...
The drought monitor, updated last Tuesday, has shown a significant decrease in the drought. The "severe" drought has been eliminated in all but northeast Nebraska, while some in western Iowa/northwest Missouri are now drought-free!
Longer-range modeling shows a loosening grip of the active pattern after Thanksgiving week, but it does not flip to any dry pattern. Thus, we can still expect some rain/snow chances into early December, which will help drought erosion. The long-term outlook shows drought removal likely in much of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa in the coming weeks and months, but it remains persistent towards the US-81 corridor.
Of course, this can still change, but these are promising signs to say goodbye to the drought yet again in 2024.
