1. State Climate Office Drought Update
Adnan Akyuz, Ph.D.
NDSU, AES
State Climatologist
Updated 9/6/2018

2. Countywide Precipitation Anomalies and Rankings
July 2018 (48th Wettest)
June-July 2018 (22nd Wettest)
Blue/Brown colors indicate wetter/drier than long-term ( ) average.

3. Countywide Temperature Anomalies and Rankings
July 2018 (60th Warmest/65th Coolest)
June-July 2018 (17th Warmest)
Blue/Brown colors indicate wetter/drier than long-term ( ) average.

4. 30-Day Precipitation
Total Accumulation
% of Normal
(NDAWN Images)

5. Long Term Precipitation % of Normal
60 Days
90 Days
(NDAWN Images)

6. (% Change from previous week)
Cumulative % area
(% Change from previous week)
None
17%
(-3%) D2
3.5%
(+0.5%) D1
42%
(+16%) DO
80%
(+2%)

7. State Coverage and Intensity

8. Drought Change
One-week Change
4-week Change

9. Drought Severity and Coverage Index (Statewide)
329
(Aug 8, 2006)
295
(Aug 8, 2017)
128
(+19)
Drought Severity and Coverage Index = ADO + 2AD1 + 3AD2 + 4AD3 + 5AD4 (Akyüz, 2007)
Where: A is a % of the state covered under the corresponding D-severity

10. Accumulated Drought Severity and Coverage Index (Statewide)
10,320
(+109)
9,530
10,645
9663
19,319
2116
1714
*Numbers indicate the area under the DSCI Index Curve
*Akyuz (2017)

11. Soil Moisture and Bare Soil Temperature
Soil Moisture Departure from Normal
5-week Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI)
(40mm = 1.6”)

12. Short-Range Forecast*
Thu 1am, Sep 6 -Thu 1am, Sep 13
Thu 1am, Sep 6 -Thu 1am, Sep 20
*College of DuPage Next Generation Weather Lab (Posted with permission)

13. Medium Range Forecast*
Week 3-4 Precipitation
Week 3-4 Temperature
*Climate Prediction Center

14. *Climate Prediction Center
Long-Range Forecast*
CPC Sep-Nov Precipitation Outlook
CPC Sep-Nov Temperature Outlook
*Climate Prediction Center

15. County-wide Agricultural Impacts for the week
Climate Division
Drought Impact by counties
1: North-West
Burke: Moderately Dry.
Ward: Moderately Dry.
2: North-Central
Bottineau: Moderately Dry. Received some rain but not enough to make a difference. Some rains helped but not enough to saturate pasture.
McHenry: Severely Dry. We have been severely dry in the area, some examples include cracks in the ground, water sources have dried up in pastures, pivots have been struggling to continue pumping. We have had rain in the last week, but we are a long way from any sort of recovery. Cows have been breaking out of pastures to find more grass and water. Ranchers have started feed bales in the pasture to keep them in place while they are combining. Others have started hauling water or fencing off contaminated water sources (blue-green algae) to make sure their cattle can stay on pasture for a little longer. The hay crop has been less than the norm, and producers are trying to bale up whatever they can including kochia bales and residue from fields (straw bales and hoping to do some corn stalks).
3: North-East
Towner: Moderately Dry
4: West
Mercer: Severely Dry. About half inch of rainfall this week which was welcome, but drought conditions are still present. Rainfall came too late to help soybeans early sampling for yields looks to be down at least 35% from County averages. Corn is drought stress also too early to tell how bad, but figuring yields will be below normal. Sunflowers for the most part are holding together so far. Cracking in soils, pastures have bare spots in them and weeds like wormwood is taking over. Many pasture that have weeds in them this year, higher then normal outbreaks in my view. Again many are being overgrazed with little regrowth taking place. Dugout are short with little recharge happening. Trying to promote testing but little action on that so far.
Oliver: Moderately Dry. We received about 1/3 of an inch of rain this week. It will settle the dust for a while. Pastures are really looking tough, even for August. There is a lot of overgrazing already and it will be a few weeks before row crops come off to allow for alternative grazing. Overgrazing is really starting to show up. Stressed pastures from the drought of 2017 are showing up in the same areas. Back to back dry years are devastating to future production of grasses. Most areas are still doing OK, but water is getting low.

16. County-wide Agricultural Impacts for the week
Climate Division
Drought Impact by counties
7: South-West
Hettinger: Severely Dry Eastern half of the county has had severe firing of corn to the point where some fields will not put on an ear. Pastures have forage but it is not green anymore. Soybeans leaves are drying up and falling off with little pod fill. There has been no haying for the last month. The western half is in better shape with some firing of corn. Harvest is in full swing and there have been a number of combine and field fires.
Slope: Mildly Dry.
Adams: The picture from Bucyrus is not the “norm” for conditions around the county. That picture (taken June 4th as the producer stated) was after a significant wind event. There are certainly pockets in the county that are drier than others, and a lot of the corn here (especially going north toward Dickinson) will probably be considered a loss. However, the NDAWN monthly precipitation data for Hettinger indicates that rainfall in June and July was above average, and an inch below average in August. The rains here have been particularly spotty, but it is hard to know exactly who is getting rain and who isn’t. It would be difficult to make a blanket statement about the drought status of the county as a whole, but there are definitely areas that are more affected than others.
9: South-East
McIntosh: Mildly Dry.

17. Agricultural Impacts (Select Photos)
Hettinger County (NDSU Photo)
Hettinger County (NDSU Photo)

18. Agricultural Impacts (Select Photos)
Adams County, 8 miles S of Bucyrus (NDSU Photo)
McHenry County (NDSU Photo)