According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, January 2014 marked the 20th consecutive month during which drought of at least category D2 Severe intensity plagued some portion of this 24-county South Central Nebraska area, prolonging one of the most notable droughts in decades. January featured the second consecutive month of below normal precipitation area-wide. In fact, according to data from nearly 50 NWS cooperative observers, roughly 60 percent of South Central Nebraska received no more than half of normal January precipitation (based on long-term January normals generally ranging between 0.40 and 0.65). Despite the continued dry stretch, there was actually very little change in drought classification across the area during January according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, thus maintaining a west (worse) to east (better) disparity. The only change of note involved southeastern Franklin and far southwestern Webster counties, which degraded from D1 Moderate to D2 Severe Drought late in the month. As a result, these areas joined the pre-existing D2 Drought area that already covered several southwestern counties including all/most of Furnas, Gosper, and Harlan, along with smaller portions of Dawson and Phelps. Meanwhile, a fairly narrow corridor of D1 Moderate Drought continued to border up against the D2 area, and covered the majority of several counties mainly west of Highway 281 including Valley, Sherman, Kearney, Phelps and Webster. Finally, nearly all locations along/east of the Highway 281 corridor in the local area including all of 13 counties and portions of others remained in Category D0 Abnormally Dry classification at month's end (considered to be one category better than true drought).
For most of South Central Nebraska, the majority of January precipitation fell in the form of less than 5 of fairly dry snow, thus providing very little liquid moisture equivalent. Also for most of the area, the brunt of January precipitation fell on both the first and last days of the month, with very little in between. Thanks to not only a dry December and January, but also a predominantly dry November, many places within South Central Nebraska recorded one of the Top-5 driest 86-day stretches on record between the dates of Nov. 6-Jan. 30, including Grand Island airport, Kearney, Hastings, Osceola, Hebron and Holdrege. Specifically at Grand Island airport, it was the 3rd-driest Nov. 6-Jan. 30 stretch on record totaling only 0.33, and was the driest since 1980-1981. Per NWS cooperative observers, a few of the leanest January precipitation totals included 0.01 at Red Cloud, 0.04 at Hubbell, 0.05 at Hebron and 0.06 at Ord airport, Greeley and three miles northeast of Shelby. On the somewhat wetter side of things were stations located two miles northeast of Upland (0.43) and at Hastings airport and Clay Center (0.37). At the other official Tri-Cities airport sites, January precipitation totals featured 0.32 at Grand Island and 0.28 at Kearney. According to the USDA Nebraska Crop Progress and Condition Report at the end of January, state-averaged soil moisture supplies clearly declined during the month. Topsoil moisture degraded notably since late-December, as the short to very short category increased from 33% to 60%, and the adequate category dropped to 40%. Subsoil moisture also degraded during the month but not quite as severely, increasing from 44% to 56% short to very short, while the adequate category decreased to 44%.

Drought in GOSPER, NEBRASKA
From 01-JAN-14 00:00:00 to 31-JAN-14 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 01-JAN-14 00:00:00 to 31-JAN-14 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in PHELPS, NEBRASKA
From 01-JAN-14 00:00:00 to 31-JAN-14 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 01-JAN-14 00:00:00 to 31-JAN-14 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 01-JAN-14 00:00:00 to 31-JAN-14 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
From 01-JAN-14 00:00:00 to 31-JAN-14 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 01-JAN-14 00:00:00 to 31-JAN-14 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor