This product will be updated April 3rd, 2025 or sooner if drought conditions change significantly. Please see all currently available products at drought.gov/drought-information-statements Please visit weather.gov/Omaha/DroughtInformationStatement for previous statements. Please visit drought.gov/drought-status-updates?dews_region=41 for regional drought status updates Drought Information Statement for Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa Valid January 21st, 2025 Issued By: NWS Omaha/Valley Contact Information: nws.omaha@noaa.gov or 1-800-452-9074 THE CLIMATOLOGICALLY DRIEST PERIOD OF THE YEAR HAS BEEN DRY THIS YEAR, TOO. VERY LITTLE CHANGE IN DROUGHT CATEGORY HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED SINCE LATE NOVEMBER. 1 U.S. Drought Monitor The area was drought free in mid-July. Things deteriorated quickly through the fall with very little change since late November. Drought intensity and Extent D4 (Exceptional Drought): None D3 (Extreme Drought): None D2 (Severe Drought): Severe drought is relegated to northeast Nebraska. D1 (Moderate Drought): The vast majority of the eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. D0 (Abnormally Dry): The best conditions are in the southeast corner of the forecast area where “abnormally dry” conditions have been declared. Over the Past 30 Days Precipitation After historically a historically dry September and October, November came through with some much needed precipitation. Many locations have recorded 150-300% of normal precipitation over the month. The dry conditions have returned and have left the area well short of normal snow and precipitation. Over the Past 30 Days Temperature Areas along the southern borders of Nebraska and Iowa have been cooler than normal due to the significant snowfall there in January’s first week. Lincoln, Norfolk, and Omaha were all warmer than recent averages over the past thirty days. Norfolk Omaha Lincoln Average Temperature (12/24 to 1/22) vs 30 Year Average (1991-2020) +1.0° +0.4° +1.4° Summary of Impacts Hydrologic Impacts Low precipitation this fall has lead to concern about aquatic wildlife if streamflows are low during winter. Fish could be at risk when waters freeze. (1380KCIM.com) Agricultural Impacts Urban farmers in the Omaha metropolitan area have blamed the lack of snow on poor bounty. (WOWT-TV) Electric fences are not working as well during drought. (FarmAndDairy.com) Drought conditions have made it hard to plant and maintain young trees planted to replace those destroyed in the 2020 derecho. (KCRG.com) Fire Hazard Impacts As of 1/23/25, Douglas County, NE has implemented a burn ban based on the dry conditions. Iowa has lifted its burn bans. Other Impacts None Mitigation Actions As of 1/23/25, Shenandoah, IA remains in stage 4 water restrictions. (KCCI.com) Hydrologic Conditions and Impacts Streamflow has generally returned to normal across the area. While close-to-normal for the time of year, this is the dry period so creeks and streams are generally quite low on average anyway. Image Captions: Left USGS 7 day average streamflow NE HUC map Right USGS 7 day average streamflow IA HUC map https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/images/index.php?mt=pa07d_nwc&st=ia IOWA https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/images/index.php?mt=pa07d_nwc&st=ne NEBRASKA Agricultural Impacts After some improvements over the course of the last two months of 2024, soil has been drying out across western Iowa and the whole of Nebraska due to the dry conditions which have started to draw declarations of “snow drought”. This is beyond even the typical dryness of the winter season. https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/soilmst/img/curr.w.rank.daily.gif https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/regional_monitoring/palmer/CMI.png Drought Outlook The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage Very little change has been made in the drought categorizations in the area over the past eight weeks. The 3-month drought outlook calls for drought to remain through at least April for most of the Northern Plains. Some improvement is expected in northeastern Kansas where significant snow fell in early January. https://storage.googleapis.com/noaa-nidis-drought-gov-data/current-conditions/nws-dgt-images/nws-seasonal-(3-month)-drought-outlook-central-plains.png