According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, June marked one year since moderate (or worse) drought took its grip on much of South Central Nebraska, continuing one of the most notable droughts since the 1950s. Unfortunately, June precipitation checked in below normal to well-below normal across most of the area, halting slow-but-steady improvement that had taken place in several counties during April and May. On a positive note, temperatures during June 2013 averaged near to only slightly above normal, easing drought impacts somewhat compared to one year ago when June 2012 averaged 3-5 degrees above normal in most places. As a result, weekly issuances of the U.S. Drought Monitor changed very little during June. At month's end, most counties along and east of the Highway 281 corridor remained in D1 Moderate Drought, although pockets of D2 Severe Drought remained prevalent across much of Greeley, Howard, Webster and Nuckolls counties. The situation remained worse to the west of Highway 281, where nearly all areas were assigned either D2 Severe or D3 Extreme Drought, with the main concentration of D3 across Gosper, Phelps, Furnas, Harlan and Franklin counties. In addition, southwestern Furnas County remained in D4 Exceptional Drought (the worst-possible category). According to reports from around 50 NWS cooperative observers, and also incorporating radar-derived estimation, at least 90 percent of the 24-county area tallied below normal rainfall for the month (based on normals generally between 3.50-4.50 inches).  More significantly, at least 40 percent of the area received less than half of normal June rainfall. Several of the overall-driest counties included much of Adams, Clay, Fillmore, Webster, Nuckolls and Thayer. Of the limited places that received slightly above normal monthly rainfall, the most concentrated zone was within Nance County. Per a combination of NWS cooperative observers and NeRAIN observers, several of the lowest June precipitation totals included 0.44 at Bruning, 0.70 at Geneva, 0.74 at Wilsonville and 0.75 at Nelson. At Grand Island and Hastings, it was the 18th and 12th-driest June on record, respectively. Focusing on the limited above normal areas, a few of the wettest sites for the month were Belgrade (4.14), four miles southeast of Waco (3.90), and two miles west of Genoa (3.88). In between these wettest and driest extremes, the majority of South Central Nebraska reported below normal June rainfall amounts somewhere between 0.90 and 3.25, including stations in or near Hastings, Hebron, Cambridge, Kearney, Aurora, Ord, Gothenburg, Minden, York, Holdrege and Osceola.
Focusing on the longer-range picture of year-to-date precipitation (January-June), most of the 24-county area stood somewhere between 70-110% of normal. Furnas County was one of the overall-driest, including only 63% of normal at Cambridge, while Nance and Howard counties were among the wettest. According to the USDA Nebraska Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending June 9th, state-averaged topsoil moisture had improved during the past few months, rating 27% short to very short and 69% adequate, a marked improvement from an 80% short to very short rating as recently as late-March. Although subsoil moisture supplies lagged behind, they also exhibited considerable improvement since early-May, decreasing from 84% short to very short to only 58% short to very short. Crop-wise, the state-averaged young corn and soybean stands both rated 75% good to excellent, while wheat was not as favorable at 50% poor to very poor. Hay and forage supplies rated 73% short to very short. Stock water supplies were only 14 percent short to very short, a 7% improvement since early-May. Over the same time span, poor to very poor pasture and range ratings improved from 70% to only 46%.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Drought in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 01-JUN-13 00:00:00 to 01-JUN-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

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