According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, November 2013 marked the 18th consecutive month during which drought of at least category D2 Severe intensity plagued at least some portion of South Central Nebraska, prolonging one of the most notable droughts in decades. In contrast to the improvements that took place during September and October, the U.S. Drought Monitor reflected no change whatsoever in drought classification during November across the 24-county area. This maintenance of the status quo largely resulted from the area having neither an extremely dry nor extremely wet month, as the driest places still managed around 0.50 of precipitation, while the wettest places only tallied slightly under 2.00. As a result, the total number of counties within the area entirely or partially assigned D2 Drought remained at six. All six of these worst-off counties were clustered in the far southwest portion of the area: Dawson, Gosper, Phelps, Furnas, Harlan and Franklin. Meanwhile, a fairly narrow zone of Category D1 Moderate Drought continued to border up against the D2 areas, and covered the majority of several counties mainly west of Highway 281 such as Valley, Sherman, Kearney and Webster. Although these poorer drought conditions persisted in western/southwestern counties, the majority of South Central Nebraska, including nearly all areas along/east of the Highway 281 corridor, finished November in Category D0 Abnormally Dry conditions (considered to be one category better than true drought). In addition, a small corridor running from eastern Adams County through southwest Clay County into northern Nuckolls County remained void of all drought classification (including D0).
Reports from around 50 NWS Cooperative Observers, and also radar-derived estimation, revealed that at least 60% of South Central Nebraska observed below normal November precipitation (based on long-term November normals generally between 0.95-1.40). A dividing line between wetter-in-the-southeast and drier-in-the-northwest set up roughly along an axis from Red Cloud-Hastings-Gresham. For most of the area, a significant percentage of monthly precipitation fell during an early-month rain event on the 5th, while very little, if hardly any fell thereafter. As just one example of this: Hastings airport measured 0.97 on the 5th, but went on to receive a meager 0.02 through the rest of the month. Per a combination of NWS cooperative observers and NeRAIN observers, a few of the highest November precipitation totals in southeast areas featured 1.78 four miles east of Superior, 1.76 one mile north of Red Cloud, 1.65 at Clay Center and Davenport, and 1.64 at Lawrence. Within the drier northwestern portions of the area, some of the lowest monthly amounts included 0.33 at Spalding, 0.50 at Ord airport, 0.56 eight miles south-southwest of Bertrand and 0.59 at Arcadia. In between these wettest and driest extremes, the majority of the 24-county area totaled somewhere between 0.75-1.50, including stations in or near Grand Island, Hastings, York, Osceola, Minden, Holdrege and Gothenburg.
Taking a look at longer-term precipitation trends, without question the driest conditions so far in 2013 continued to focus within the southwest one-third of South Central Nebraska, mainly southwest of a line from Lexington-Red Cloud. According to the USDA Nebraska Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending November 24th, state-averaged topsoil moisture supplies had changed relatively little since late-October, now rating 25% short or very short and 75% adequate. Subsoil moisture supplies exhibited slight improvement during that time frame, as the short or very short category decreased from 55% to 43%.

Drought in PHELPS, NEBRASKA
From 01-NOV-13 00:00:00 to 30-NOV-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 01-NOV-13 00:00:00 to 30-NOV-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
From 01-NOV-13 00:00:00 to 30-NOV-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 01-NOV-13 00:00:00 to 30-NOV-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 01-NOV-13 00:00:00 to 30-NOV-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in GOSPER, NEBRASKA
From 01-NOV-13 00:00:00 to 30-NOV-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 5.00M
Reported by: Drought Monitor