For at least a part of February, 15 of the 24 South Central Nebraska counties were completely-or-partially included in either Severe (D2) or Extreme (D3) Drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Although this marked the seventh consecutive month with at least D2 assigned to some portion of the area, February was actually the fourth-consecutive month of at least slightly above normal precipitation for a decent chunk of the area, keeping a positive trend going and allowing for continued, gradual drought improvements. Speaking of improvements, of the 15 counties (or portions of counties) that started February in D2-or-worse, nine of them actually improved to no worse than Moderate Drought (D1) over the course of the month. This improvement occurred very early in February for far western portions of Adams/Webster counties, followed by mid-month positive upgrades for at least portions of the following seven counties: Valley, Greeley, Sherman, Howard, Hall, Kearney and Franklin. These improvements were mainly driven by a series of snow events between the 6th-14th that dumped 7-15 inches across most of the area. Turning to the worst-off area of D3 Drought in far western counties, some improvement in the situation also occurred there. While large portions of Furnas and Gosper remained in D3 throughout the month, D3 was completely removed from Phelps and far southwestern Buffalo counties mid-month, and only lingered in small portions of southwestern Dawson and extreme western Harlan counties (making for a total of four counties still at least partially-assigned D3 at month's end). On the other end of the local drought spectrum (and farther east), at least large portions of 11 counties along and east of the Highway 281 corridor improved from D1 to Abnormally Dry (D0) during February.
The aforementioned nine-day snowy stretch between the 6th-14th accounted for the vast majority of February precipitation within South Central Nebraska, with monthly totals across most of the area somewhere in the 0.50-1.00 range (generally 80-150 percent of normal). Per several dozen NWS cooperative observers, a few of the highest February precipitation totals featured: 1.03 in Franklin, 0.93 at Hastings and 0.91 in Gothenburg. Meanwhile, a few of the lowest (and slightly below normal) tallies included: 0.43 in Greeley, 0.46 in Geneva and 0.47 in Superior. Temperature-wise, February was bitterly-cold overall, with most of South Central Nebraska averaging 13-15 degrees (F) below normal, good for a top-five-coldest February on record at most official NWS stations. In fact, the 10-day stretch from the 7th-16th constituted the overall-coldest 10 days in 38 years across much of the area (since December 1983).

Drought in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-21 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in GOSPER, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-21 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-21 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-21 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in PHELPS, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-21 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-21 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 16-FEB-21 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in GREELEY, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 16-FEB-21 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HOWARD, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 16-FEB-21 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in SHERMAN, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 16-FEB-21 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 16-FEB-21 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in KEARNEY, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 16-FEB-21 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 16-FEB-21 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in ADAMS, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 02-FEB-21 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in WEBSTER, NEBRASKA
From 01-FEB-21 00:00:00 to 02-FEB-21 00:00:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor