Experts say rainfall in eastern Nebraska isn’t nearly enough to cure drought

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Experts say the recent rain in Nebraska isn’t enough to get us out of the drought.

The most recent drought map was released Thursday, and the exceptional drought area in eastern Nebraska has grown.

While this week has brought rainfall to the area, Curtis Riganti, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center, says it likely won’t do much.

“A lot of areas, especially in the eastern half of the state, really have a large deficit to make up,” he said. “So while this rain certainly helps, we’re not going to get out of the woods that easily with the pretty dire drought situation we have right now.”

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But the map doesn’t include any of the recent precipitation data.

So Riganti said we can expect to see a slight change in the map next week.

“Hopefully, this will at least stabilize the situation locally a bit,” he said. “Hard to say exactly how much will improve until I get to really look at the data next week.”

Unfortunately, for a drought this extreme, the rainfall is only a short-term fix.

“We’re likely to see improvement but very unlikely to see a removal of the drought conditions,” Riganti said. “Drought often takes a long time to get into and then a long time to get out of.”

He said this particular drought has been building for years now, and the only cure will be cooler temperatures and slow, consistent rainfall that soaks into the ground.

“It’s hard to put an exact number on how much rain we need,” Riganti said. “But it’ll take a significant number of events, not just one or two, to get us out of this.”

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This severe of a drought is a rare occurrence, and it’s the first time any part of Lancaster County has been in the exceptional drought category since the drought map began 23 years ago.

Right now, the City of Lincoln is asking residents to voluntarily cut back on outdoor water use.

But the Lancaster Rural Water District is implementing a mandatory 50% reduction in sprinkler usage.

The district said if customers don’t do that, it will ban sprinkler use for the rest of the year.

Riganti said forecasts suggest that we could see some relief once fall comes.

But for now, people should continue to be cautious with their outdoor water use.

SEE ALSO: Lincoln had the lowest precipitation on record over the past year