Drought in the No. 1 winter wheat state of Kansas has expanded dramatically for the second straight week.
This week’s US drought monitor showed some form of drought impacting almost two-thirds of Kansas (65.4%) as of Tuesday, up 12 points on the week. That portion of the state impacted by severe drought also increased, jumping about 10 points from a week earlier to just over 17%.
Just two weeks earlier, drought was impacting less than 30% of Kansas, with less than 2% of that in the severe category.
Kansas precipitation has been below normal during the past 90-day period with the greatest departures - 4 to 5 inches - observed in the south-central and eastern parts of the state. Moreover, stream gages on numerous creeks and rivers in central and eastern Kansas were reporting much below-normal flows.
In addition to the lack of rain, temperatures across the Plains states have also been well above normal over the past three months.
According to Monday’s USDA crop progress report, 26% of the Kansas winter wheat crop was in poor to very poor condition as of Sunday, up from 19% the previous week and 15% at the beginning of April.
Drought is also increasing in Oklahoma, another major Hard Red Winter producer. More than one-third of the state (35.5%) was being impacted by some form of drought as of Tuesday, up from 27% a week earlier and only 15% two weeks ago.
The Oklahoma crop was rated 12% poor to very poor as of Sunday, up a single point from the previous week and 8% two weeks earlier.
With the southern Plains dryness expanding, an estimated 30% of the national winter wheat production area was being impacted by drought as of Tuesday, up 6 points on the week (see map below).
