Improving drought & weekend storms

Hope everyone is having a pretty good week so far. I grew up in a farming/ranching family, so I know first hand that the continual rain at harvest time is driving everyone batty. You know the crop is in the field and you can't get to it because the ground is too wet and the grain needs to dry out. And each time it rains, the quality goes down. But then again, we need the rain to keep the grass growing and the corn crops around the state are just loving the moisture. 

As I mentioned in yesterdays blog, some areas of the state have had roughly 40% of their annual rainfall in just the last month. The pattern has definitely changed and the benefit is decreasing drought conditions. Some areas of the state have been dealing with drought for 3 or 4 years, and maybe even longer. And while we have definitely had nice rains and are about to see our yearly deficits go away, the drought isn't completely over with yet. We are still recharging sub-soil moisture and there's no question areas of western Kansas could still benefit from rain. I'm posting a series of drought maps (including the most recent one out this week). The maps will show you how things have changed just this month alone, and then I compare the current situation to a year ago. Wow! The difference is amazing. You can click on any map to make it larger. Heading into the weekend, I think we may be looking at more storms. Our best chance will come Saturday evening and into the night across most of the state (exception would be the northwest corner) We will have updates on air this evening and on the blog tomorrow.