FINAL 2024 Precipitation Recap for Our Entire Coverage Area...Including Map, Tables, Extremes, Tri-Cities Details

2024 Total Precipitation (map APPROXIMATE/listed totals measured) (click to enlarge)

2024 APPROXIMATE Precip Percent-of-Normal (click to enlarge)

- BRIEF SUMMARY OF 2024 PRECIPITATION:
Fortunately, 2024 continued a trend from 2023 by NOT BEING AS DRY AS THE PREVIOUS YEAR across most of our our 30-county coverage area. That being said, roughly 60% of our area still registered at least slightly below normal precipitation, while only around 40% of it checked in at least slightly above normal. The majority of our area tallied somewhere between 22-31", or generally 85-115% of the 30-year normal. In other words, most places were neither "extremely dry" nor "extremely wet" for the year as whole, with most stations registering within +/- 5" either side of normal. Very generally (there were localized exceptions), the northwest half of our coverage area (places mainly northwest of a line from Osceola-Grand Island-Phillipsburg KS) were overall-wettest, while the southeast half of our area was overall-driest (particularly near/south of the KS border). Of course, there were localized exceptions to the "wetter north/drier south" narrative...one being most of Valley County in our far north which prevailed on the drier side. 

Per dozens of NWS Cooperative Observer stations and a few official airport sites:
- a few of the wettest 2024 stations in our coverage area included:
3NE Shelby (37.81"), Osceola (34.73"), 2W Genoa (34.39") and St. Paul (34.33")
- a few of the driest 2024 stations in our area were:
4WNW Plainville KS (21.23"), Ord airport (21.84"), Lovewell Dam KS (22.15") and Beloit KS (22.42")

Highlighting just a few 2024 precipitation "fun facts" for our area:
- 1: Grand Island airport (CNRA) totaled 28.45" for the year. Although this was only slightly above normal, it was nonetheless an incredible 11.93" MORE than what fell during all of 2023!  
- 2: Much of our area (not all of it) endured an incredibly-dry September-October, with many spots totaling 1" or less (combined for both months!). It was a Top-8-Driest September+October on record in the Nebraska Tri Cities, and it was THE DRIEST SEP+OCT ON RECORD at long-time NWS Cooperative Observer stations such as 2W Arcadia (0.16"), Greeley (0.27") and St. Paul (0.49"). 

- 2024 DROUGHT RECAP:
Per weekly issuances of the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), 2024 was a "roller coaster" as the year started out pretty bleak (especially south and east), improved considerably throughout the spring-early summer, and then worsened again in the fall (especially Sept.- Oct.) before improving/stabilizing somewhat in November. More specifically, 2024 opened with nearly two-thirds of our 30-county coverage area assigned between Moderate Drought (D1) and Extreme Drought (D3)...with most of the D3 focused east of Highway 281 in Nebraska and also in Rooks County KS. Thanks to decent precipitation through the first several months of 2024, steady improvement took place during the spring-early summer, with D3 disappearing from our entire area in Jan-Feb, Severe Drought (D2) going away in early-May, and D1 vanishing from the vast majority of our area late-May/June. During the latter half of the year, more frequent stretches of dryness (particularly Sept-Oct) brought widespread degradation, with 92% of our area assigned D1-D2 by early-November. Fortunately, widespread/above normal November rain stemmed the dry tide somewhat, removing most of the D2. However, as of year's end, the majority of our area (83% of it) remained in D1. 

HANDY TIPS:
- You can look up official daily/monthly/annual temp/precip data for ALL NWS cooperative observer and airport stations in our area with NOWData
- You can find maps of daily/weekly/monthly etc. precipitation on a page maintained by NWS Hastings at: www.weather.gov/gid/Precipitation
- You can do your own daily/monthly/annual precipitation analysis (including generating maps) using the NWS NWPS page