The US Drought Monitor’s weekly update map had a notable improvement for all area counties Thursday.
Having up to 11 inches of rainfall in a 24-hour period can help that.
There was a full category upgrade from the Oct. 26 map to the one revealed Thursday morning for most area counties, meaning severe drought now covers virtually all of Chase and Coffey counties, northwest and south Lyon County south of Interstate 35 and US Highway 50, most of Greenwood and Morris counties, southeast Osage and western Wabaunsee counties. These areas were in extreme drought for several weeks.
Also, the exceptional drought areas for central Chase County and north Greenwood County have been removed.
Areas in moderate to severe drought the past few weeks, including most of Lyon, Osage and Wabaunsee counties, as well as western Chase and Morris counties, are now in moderate drought to abnormally dry.
