According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, May marked the eleventh consecutive month of moderate (or worse) drought across South Central Nebraska, continuing one of the most notable droughts since the 1950s. However, thanks to above normal rainfall across roughly the northeast two-thirds of the 24-county area, many places saw improving conditions for the second consecutive month. More specifically, most locations northeast of a line from Grand Island-Hebron improved to D1 Moderate Drought over the course of the month, marking the first time since July 2012 that any portion of the area featured a classification better than D2 Severe Drought. In the drier southwestern areas primarily consisting of Gosper, Phelps, Kearney, Furnas, Harlan and Franklin counties, D3 Extreme Drought continued to prevail, with southwestern Furnas County holding onto D4 Exceptional Drought (the worst-possible category). In between these aforementioned extremes, several counties such as Valley, Greeley, Sherman, Adams, Webster and Nuckolls improved to (or remained in) D2 Severe Drought during the month. Based on reports from around 50 NWS cooperative observers, and also incorporating radar-derived estimation, the northeast-southwest split between predominantly-above normal and predominantly-below normal rainfall aligned along an axis from Gothenburg-Minden-Hebron (based on normals generally between 3.75-4.75 inches). Areas northeast of this line (including the Tri-Cities) ending up considerably wetter, and in fact roughly one-fourth of South Central Nebraska measured at least 150 percent of normal May rainfall. Fortunately, even in the drier southwestern counties, nearly all places managed to see at least 1.50 for the month. Per a combination of NWS cooperative observers and NeRAIN observers, several of the highest-known May precipitation totals included 9.83 seven miles southeast of Stromsburg, 9.20 three miles northeast of Shelby, 8.73 six miles southwest of Columbus, 8.49 four miles west-northwest of Alexandria and 8.33 at Hampton. At Grand Island, 6.77 was the 15th-wettest May on record dating to 1896. More remarkably, the 24-hour total of 3.09 that fell from the 24th-25th was more than all cumulative rain that fell during the four-month period between June-September 2012 (2.84)! In the drier side of the area, some of the lowest reported totals included 1.57 at Cambridge, 1.77 at Edison and 1.91 eight miles south of Elwood. In between these wettest and driest extremes, the majority of South Central Nebraska reported May totals somewhere between 2.50 and 6.50. Remarkably, for some areas a small fraction of May precipitation consisted of snow, as an unusually cold start to the month brought light accumulations up to around 1 primarily on the 1st, with isolated pockets up to 2 at northern sites such as Genoa and Greeley.
Focusing on the longer-range picture of year-to-date precipitation amounts (January-May), most of the 24-county area received between 75 and 115 percent of normal. Although this near normal to slightly above normal trend certainly was not enough to end drought issues, it at least eased the drought severity since fall 2012 in many places. According to the USDA Nebraska Crop Progress and Condition Report for the week ending June 9th, state-averaged topsoil moisture continued to improve, 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 VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in YORK, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in CLAY, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in NANCE, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in PHELPS, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in POLK, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in SHERMAN, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in FILLMORE, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in GOSPER, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in GREELEY, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HOWARD, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in KEARNEY, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in MERRICK, NEBRASKA
From 01-MAY-13 00:00:00 to 31-MAY-13 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor