For at least some portion of April 2022, 21 of the 24 South Central Nebraska counties were completely-or-partially assigned either Severe (D2) or Extreme (D3) Drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor as a steadily-worsening late-winter/early-spring drought situation peaked in intensity, driven by significant precipitation/snowfall deficits since late-fall 2021. Exacerbating the situation were relentless winds, as this was in fact the area's overall-windiest April since at least 1951 (per analysis of Grand Island airport data). As for significant drought impacts, the combination of dryness and intense winds sparked two of the largest, most destructive wildfires in at least several decades within South Central Nebraska. Both of these infernos affected far southwestern portions of the local area: 1) The Road 739 Fire in Gosper/Furnas counties that flared up April 7th...2) The Road 702 Fire that began April 22nd and impacted western portions of Furnas County (but more so Red Willow County just outside this coverage area). April marked the third consecutive month with at least D2 assigned to a portion of the local domain and was the second straight month with D3. Specifying more county-based drought category detail, April began with at least portions of four far northern counties in D3: Valley (the entire county), Greeley, Sherman and Howard (the remainder of these counties started the month with D2). In addition, at least portions of 13 other counties started the month assigned at least D2: Nance, Merrick, Polk, Dawson, Buffalo, Hall, Hamilton, York, Gosper, Phelps, Kearney, Furnas and Harlan. During the latter half of the month, both D3 and D2 increased in coverage to include parts of several more counties. Specifically, D3 expanded to also include portions of: Nance, Dawson, Buffalo, Gosper and Furnas, while D2 expanded to include much of: Adams, Clay and Fillmore. Outside of the worse-off D3/D2 zones, only Webster, Nuckolls and Thayer counties spent April categorized in Moderate Drought (D1).
Turning to April 2022 precipitation data, roughly 90 percent of the 24-county area measured at least slightly below normal precipitation (mainly less than 2.75 inches), and roughly half of places less than half their April normal (mainly less than 1.40). For all locales, the vast majority of April precipitation fell during the final 10 days. The very-driest places of all (greatest concentrations of totals less than 0.50) focused within far southeast local counties (Thayer/Nuckolls) and also the southwestern half of Furnas County. Meanwhile, of the roughly 10 percent of South Central Nebraska that received at least slightly above normal precipitation (at least 3-4), this mainly concentrated within portions of far northeast counties including Nance/Merrick, along with portions of Harlan and northern Furnas counties. Furnas County actually observed a particularly large gradient in April precipitation between northern and southwestern areas, with NWS/CoCoRaHs observer totals ranging from as much as 3.66 in Arapahoe to merely 0.48 in Wilsonville. Prior to parts of the area receiving late-April rains, the start of meteorological spring had been incredibly dry, setting the stage for the aforementioned large wildfires in/near Furnas County (along with many smaller fires scattered across South Central Nebraska). As just a few examples of remarkably dry March 1-April 27 precipitation totals from NWS observers: 1) Greeley: 0.25 (7 percent of normal)...2) Ord: 0.34 (8% of normal)...3) Elwood 8S: 0.55 (17% of normal).

Drought in VALLEY, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in GREELEY, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in NANCE, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in SHERMAN, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HOWARD, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in MERRICK, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in POLK, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in DAWSON, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HALL, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in YORK, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in GOSPER, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in PHELPS, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in FURNAS, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in HARLAN, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in KEARNEY, NEBRASKA
From 01-APR-22 00:00:00 to 30-APR-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor