1. ND Weekly Drought Update
Adnan Akyuz, Ph.D.
NDSU, AES
State Climatologist
Updated 5/17/2018

2. Divisional Precipitation Anomalies and Rankings
March 2018
April 2018
-0.85”
16th
-1.1”
2nd
-1.07”
7th
-0.69”
29th
-1.06”
8th
-1.34”
6th
-0.2”
58th
-0.64”
35th
-1.18”
14th
Negative numbers indicate drier than long-term ( ) average.
Lower rankings indicate historically drier conditions on record (124 years total).

3. Divisional Temperature Anomalies and Rankings
March 2018
April 2018
-8.7F
5th
-8.5F
5th
-8.9F
7th
-7.7F
7th
-9.1F
3rd
-9.4F
3rd
--6.5F
7th
-8.3F
3rd
-9.9F
2nd
Negative numbers indicate cooler than long-term ( ) average.
Lower rankings indicate historically cooler conditions on record (124 years total).

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

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

6. Weekly Drought Impact Collection Based on the NDSU Weekly Survey of Extension Offices
Climate Division
Drought Impact by counties
1: North-West
Burke County: Moderately Dry. Most cropland has moisture to germinate annual crops unless tilled prior to seeding. Hay and pastures badly need rain. Some ranchers are discussing selling cows.
Ward County: Moderately Dry
2: North-Central
Bottineau County: Mildly Dry
McHenry County: Mildly Dry. Turning out later with a limited hay supply left from the winter. Some have implemented a cover crop rotation to make up for limited grazing. Everything is waiting on/depending on if moisture comes to the area.
Pierce County: Severely Dry
3: North-East
Towner County: Moderately Dry
Grand Forks County: Mildly Wet. North of HWY 2 was dry earlier in the week making planting go smoothly for most producers. That area did receive rain later in the week halting field work for the most part. South of HWY 2 has been very wet. Near the Northwood area producers are having trouble working in the field because of wet spots.
Pembina County: Moderately Dry
Walsh County: Mildly Dry
Nelson County: Mildly Dry. Continuing into second week of a burn ban. Farmers have been able to get into the fields and seed rather efficiently after experiencing many excessively wet springs, making it difficult to judge the severity of dryness. However topsoil moisture is lacking after a dry fall, and little rain events thus far. Grass growth is behind last year at this time leaf stage behind. Have had one shot of rain this spring in most parts of county.
4: West
Dunn County: Near Normal
Mercer County: Moderately Dry. High winds over last week have hurt moisture conditions 40+ some days this week. Grass development is slow have been at the two leaf stage for two weeks. Grazing is not recommended until at least third leaf stage is present, but 75% of the cow/calves are out to pasture already. This area is holding up pretty good so far. Dugouts don't look to bad.
5: Central
Foster County: Mildly Dry
Kidder County: Mildly Dry. Received approximately half an inch of rain in areas this week.
Sheridan County: Moderately Dry. Planting crops has produced dust clouds following every piece of equipment. Burn bans are in place for Sheridan County and surrounding counties. Sporadic rain showers have helped settle dust, but little to alleviate dry conditions. The windy weather and warm temperatures have caused the dryness to continue. There was no, if not very little snow run off to the low areas in the county to hold water. Many stock dams and water holes for livestock in pastures have producers looking at hauling water or digging wells for animals. We have warm temps to get the cool season grasses growing, but no moisture or rain to help them growing. They remain short and stunted in their growth.
6: East-Central
Steele County: Mildly Wet
Griggs County: Near Normal
Traill County: Near Normal
7: South-West
Bowman County: Mildly Dry
Slope County: Near Normal
Billings/Stark Counties: Moderately Dry. Received .10 to .60 rain last Thursday. Pastures are starting to grow will need more measurable rain soon. April snows did runoff and stock dams due seem a bit better.
Adams County: Moderately Dry. We don't have the sub soil moisture because of our dry conditions this past year and the winter. We have gotten some moisture to help with the top soil to get the crops and pastures going. The late snow of couple inches help get us started. We have had moisture this past week of around 0.30 inch of rain. It will get things started. Pasture were grazed hard last year and are trying to recover. We didn't get a lot of snow to help fill the water sources for livestock.
8: South-Central
9: South-East
Logan County: Near Normal

7. (% Change from previous week)
Cumulative % area
(% Change from previous week)
None
10%
(-1%) D2 6%
(+3%) D1
46%
(+7%) DO
90%
(+1%)

8. State Coverage and Intensity

9. Drought Change
One-week Change
4-week Change

10. Drought Severity and Coverage Index (Statewide)
329
(Aug 8, 2006)
295
(Aug 8, 2017)
132
(+9)
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

11. Accumulated Drought Severity and Coverage Index (Statewide)
9068
(+141)
9,530
10,642
9653
19,319
2116
1714
*Numbers indicate the area under the DSCI Index Curve
*Akyuz (2017)

12. Soil Moisture and Bare Soil Temperature
Soil Moisture Departure from Normal
Bare Soil Temperature at 4” Depth
Daily Average (May 16, 2018)
(40mm = 1.6”)

13. 7-day GFS Forecast* Thu 1am, May 17 through Thu 1am, May 24
*College of DuPage
Next Generation Weather Lab (Displayed with permission)

14. 14-day GFS Forecast* Thu 1am, May 10 through Thu 1am, May 31
*College of DuPage
Next Generation Weather Lab (Displayed with permission)

15. Medium Range Forecast
Week 3-4 Precipitation
Week 3-4 Temperature

16. 3-Mounth Outlook: June-August
Precipitation
Temperature