Rainfall amounts & drought update

Rainfall Amounts through 7 a.m. Thursday:
Wichita: 1.75"
Jabara Airport: 1.43"
Winfield: 1.09"
Kingman: 1.00"
Medicine Lodge: 0.25"
Hutch: 0.17"
Elkhart: 0.05"
Liberal: 0.03"

How has the drought map changed now that we've had some rain this month? Well, the drought is FAR from over, but there's been some improvement.
Here's the map from May 1st where a good chunk of the state was in "extreme" drought.

Just today, the new drought map is indicating shrinking areas of extreme drought. However, there's still a great deal of severe drought covering the state. The only areas that appear to be in good shape are the northwest and southeast corners of Kansas. It takes an enormous amount of steady rains to replenish subsoil moisture as well as farm ponds, lakes, rivers, etc.

Unfortunately, the month of June is shaping up to be a dry one for many areas. I'll be sharing a June outlook with you tomorrow and we will look back at what has been one of the hottest months of May ever recorded.