Once again, there was no moisture across the KVOE listening area for the past week. And once again, there was no movement in the latest update from the US Drought Monitor.
The latest weekly map still has Lyon, Chase and Osage counties in moderate drought, along with northwest Coffey, southeast Morris and southeast Wabaunsee counties. Greenwood County still ranges from moderate drought north of Madison to exceptional drought along and south of US Highway 54.
The Drought Monitor’s weekly maps for the KVOE listening area have stayed consistent since a heavy rainfall event in early November. Statewide, almost 40 percent of Kansas is in exceptional drought — the worst on the Drought Monitor scale. It’s the biggest percentage of exceptional drought coverage for any state in the country, easily outpacing Oklahoma (12 percent) and Nebraska (10 percent). California, which had 17 percent of the state in exceptional drought in October, has no exceptional or extreme drought after two straight weeks of heavy rainfall this month.
