Early thoughts on June - future drought maps will be interesting to see

June is right around the corner and we have made some dents in the ongoing drought (mainly northwest), but we still have quite a long way to go. Early signs point toward more rain arriving in western Kansas over the next several weeks, so we may see drought levels come down another category or two within the next 30 days. Complete drought removal seems unlikely on a large scale. Take a look at the outlook for the next month, and western Kansas may wind up getting more rain than other areas farther east. It's incredible, but long overdue some would say. 

I think there's a good chance we will have near average temperatures for June. Afternoon temperatures in the 80s with lows in the 60s would be considered normal for much of the month. The hottest part of June might be in the middle of the month, with some notable "cooling" possible as we near the end of the month.

Meteorologist Adrian Campa did some digging for rainfall stats since July 1, 2022 and what we found is pretty incredible. It was right around the 4th of July last year that some of us saw the faucet turn off and the heat crank up. Drought conditions just exploded. Just look at how far behind on rainfall we continue to be here in Kansas. It's staggering. 

One of the driest stretches on record was observed from July - September, and as most of us experienced over the winter, we didn't have much moisture to really ease the stress for the area.

Here's how the drought map looked in early July. 

Just 1% of the state was in "exceptional" status. The new map just released on Thursday still shows a lot of water still needed in Kansas. We still have nearly 90% of the state in some category of drought. 

I don't think anybody is surprised. Mainly what we have been getting lately are "scattered" rains and we need them to be widespread. That might be tough to do over the next few weeks. 

Latest long-range maps look like this for July:

Remember, this is "cooler" compared to average. It doesn't mean we'll be in jackets in summer, but I sure don't think July temperatures will be anything like last year. Much of the state had highs of at least 90-105° for nearly the entire month. I doubt that will happen again this year.

July rainfall - reason to hope for better moisture (compared to last July anyway). This may be showing some monsoon influence for western Kansas. Rainfall may be just average or slightly lower for areas farther east. 

Have a great day and a wonderful holiday weekend.