According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, December 2013 marked the 19th consecutive month during which drought of at least category D2 Severe intensity plagued at least a portion of South Central Nebraska, prolonging one of the most notable droughts in decades. Despite monthly precipitation checking in well-below normal across the entire 24-county area, there was literally no change whatsoever in drought classification for the second month in a row, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. As a result, the total number of South Central Nebraska counties 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 December in Category D0 Abnormally Dry conditions (considered to be one category better than true drought).
Even though the majority of South Central Nebraska totaled between 2-8��� of snow during December, essentially the entire area suffered a notably dry month as most snowfall contained minimal liquid equivalent. Based on reports from around 50 NWS Cooperative Observers, and also radar-derived estimation, nearly the entire area totaled less than one-third of normal December precipitation and around 70% of the area had less than one-fourth of normal (based on long-term December normals generally around 0.75).  Per NWS cooperative observers, the lowest December precipitation totals were primarily concentrated north of a line from Elwood-Kearney-Grand Island-Osceola, as this area largely missed out on a winter storm from the 7th-8th that dropped several inches of snow on counties farther south and east. Within northern and western counties, some of the paltriest December precipitation totals included  a non-measurable trace at Arcadia and Ravenna, 0.02 at Ord and 0.03 at Miller, six miles south-southeast of Lexington and four miles north of Aurora. Although still well-below normal, a few of the highest monthly precipitation amounts featured 0.47 at Bruning, 0.26 at Harlan County Lake and 0.24 at Edison.  In between these extremes, December precipitation at the official Tri-Cities airport sites included only 0.14��� at Hastings, 0.11��� at Grand Island and 0.10��� at Kearney. At Grand Island, this was the 18th-driest December on record dating back 119 years, and was the driest since 2004. According to the USDA Nebraska Crop Progress and Condition Report at the end of December, state-averaged topsoil moisture supplies had degraded slightly since late-November, now rating 33% short to very short and 67% adequate. Subsoil moisture supplies changed very little during this same time frame, checking in 44% short to very short and only 56% adequate.
Looking back over the year 2013, precipitation trends across most of South Central Nebraska were less extreme than the intense dryness that defined 2012, as most places in 2013 ended up somewhere between 75-125% of the 30-year normal. That being said, there was a rather pronounced difference in annual precipitation between roughly the southwestern one-third of the area (drier) and north central/northeast counties (wetter). As evidence of this, the driest NWS cooperative observer site during 2013 was Beaver City in Furnas County with 16.52 inches (7.79 below normal), while the wettest site was two miles west of Genoa in Nance County with 33.35 inches (4.53 above normal). In between these extremes, central locations such as the Tri-Cities finished the year very close to normal, including Grand Island airport with 26.92 inches (0.26 above normal).

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

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

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

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

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

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