Throughout December 2022, portions of four of the six North Central Kansas counties continued to be assigned Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), with the coverage of D2 expanding somewhat during the month. This marked the 11th consecutive month that D2 plagued parts of the local area. Precipitation-wise, unfortunately December marked the third straight month with widespread below normal totals. That being said, it was not as severely dry (versus normal) as October-November (see below for more Dec. precipitation details). Focusing on county-level USDM drought category specifics during December, the month opened with most of the six-county area in Moderate Drought (D1). However, various swaths of D2 were found within: 1) much of the northern halves of Rooks/Osborne counties along with most of far southern Phillips/Smith counties...2) a narrow stripe across extreme southern Rooks/Osborne counties...3) a narrow swath of far western Phillips County. On the better-off side of things, and farther east, most of Mitchell and southeastern Jewell counties opened the month in the Abnormally Dry (D0) category. As December wore on, drought categories remained unchanged within the eastern half of the area. However, at mid-month, there was a fairly sizable expansion of D2 within the western half, to now encompass all of Rooks County, along with roughly the western two-thirds of Osborne County, the southwestern half of Phillips County and a touch more of southern Smith County.
Turning to December 2022 precipitation details, unfortunately at least 95 percent of the area registered below normal, (although no ground-truth gauges could confirm, AHPS analysis suggested that parts of extreme northern Phillips/Smith counties might have received near to slightly above normal). On a somewhat positive note though, at least it was not as severely dry (versus normal) as the preceding few months. The majority of the six-counties totaled between 0.35-0.55, or 35-60% of normal, with relatively uniform areal coverage. Per NWS/CoCoRaHS observers, some of the driest December totals featured: 0.30 four miles west-northwest of Plainville, 0.32 seven miles north-northeast of Natoma and 0.37 in both Smith Center and Natoma. On the wetter (but still below normal) side of things, a few of the highest amounts featured: 0.63 in Cawker City, 0.58 in Beloit and 0.56 near Hunter.
Finishing with an overall recap of annual 2022 precipitation across this North Central Kansas area, it was little surprise that drought took at least a modest turn for the worse. Although nowhere close to record-dry territory, most spots fell between 5-9 short of 30-year normal precipitation (typically receiving only 65-80% of normal). For most places, it was the overall-driest year since 2012. The overall-driest conditions (greatest concentration of annual totals under 18) were mainly concentrated in western portions of Phillips/Rooks counties (including merely 15.42 at Logan...marking the 7th-driest year on record out of 71).

Drought in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 01-DEC-22 00:00:00 to 31-DEC-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 01-DEC-22 00:00:00 to 31-DEC-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in SMITH, KANSAS
From 01-DEC-22 00:00:00 to 31-DEC-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 01-DEC-22 00:00:00 to 31-DEC-22 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor