Throughout December 2022, at least portions of 21 of the 24 South Central Nebraska counties continued to be assigned at least Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), with parts of 11 counties assigned worse-off Extreme Drought (D3). This marked the 11th consecutive month that D2 plagued parts of the local area and the fifth straight month with at least limited coverage of D3. More specifically, roughly one-fourth of South Central Nebraska spent most of December in D3. Precipitation-wise, December was a mixed bag. On a positive note, the month was not as severely dry (versus normal) as the previous few months, and roughly one-fourth of the area actually measured at least slightly above normal precipitation (see below for more Dec. precipitation details). Focusing on county-level USDM drought category specifics during December, there was actually very little change within the 24 counties. The month opened with at least portions of 21 counties containing D2, with D2 blanketing the vast majority of real estate along/north of the Highway 6 corridor. In fact, only three of the southeastern-most local counties (Webster/Nuckolls/Thayer) began the month entirely void of D2...featuring a varied mix of Moderate Drought (D1) and Abnormally Dry (D0). On the worst-off side of things, fairly sizable portions of the following counties along/north of Interstate 80 opened the month in D3: Valley, Greeley, Sherman, Howard, Nance (the entire county), Merrick, Polk, Dawson and Hall. To the south of I-80, D3 also nicked small slivers of far northwestern Gosper and far southwestern Furnas counties. As December wore on, the vast majority of the area featured no categorical change whatsoever. However, late in the month D3 expanded slightly to include a bit more of southern Furnas County.
Turning to December 2022 precipitation details, although unfortunately around three-fourths of South Central Nebraska received at least slightly below normal totals, fortunately the month was not as severely dry as October-November were. The majority of the 24-county area totaled between 0.40-1.00 of precipitation, or 50-120 percent of normal. Although most places were officially below normal, there were far fewer severely-below-normal totals versus the previous few months, with roughly 85% of locations receiving at least half-normal. Geographically, there was a definite west-to-east disparity, with the overall-highest tallies focused within the western half of the area, and the overall-driest locations found in far eastern counties along the Highway 81 corridor. Per dozens of NWS and NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS observers, some of the very highest December totals featured: 1.74 nine miles northwest of Ord, 1.52 in Gothenburg, 1.41 at Riverdale and 1.37 near Rockville. On the noticeably drier side of things, some of the lowest totals from far eastern counties included: 0.19 in Bradshaw, 0.32 five miles northeast of Osceola, 0.34 near Gresham and 0.35 near Grafton.
Finishing with an overall recap of annual 2022 precipitation across South Central Nebraska, it was little surprise that drought took a significant turn for the worse. For many official long-term NWS stations, 2022 ranked between a Top-10 and Top-15 driest year on record. For many places, it was also the overall-driest year since at least 2012 or 2002, but in limited spots one has to go back much farther to find a drier year (for example, Hastings had its driest year in 56 years...since 1966!). More specifically, most places fell between 5-12 short of 30-year normal precipitation (typically receiving no more than 55-80% of normal).  Based on data from dozens of NWS and NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS observers and also radar-estimated analysis, the very-driest conditions focused primarily within northern/western counties. The following counties were particularly dry (greatest concentration of annual totals under 15): most of Howard, Merrick, Nance...much of western Dawson...much of southwestern Furnas. On the better-off (but still solidly drier-than-normal) side of things, the majority of places generally southeast of a line from York-Clay Center-Red Cloud had the greatest concentration of annual totals of at least 18-23.

Drought in CLAY, NEBRASKA
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 FILLMORE, NEBRASKA
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 FURNAS, NEBRASKA
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 HARLAN, NEBRASKA
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 FRANKLIN, NEBRASKA
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 GOSPER, NEBRASKA
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 BUFFALO, NEBRASKA
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 HALL, NEBRASKA
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 HAMILTON, NEBRASKA
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 YORK, NEBRASKA
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 PHELPS, NEBRASKA
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 KEARNEY, NEBRASKA
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 ADAMS, NEBRASKA
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 HOWARD, NEBRASKA
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 MERRICK, NEBRASKA
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 POLK, NEBRASKA
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 DAWSON, NEBRASKA
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 VALLEY, NEBRASKA
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 GREELEY, NEBRASKA
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 NANCE, NEBRASKA
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 SHERMAN, NEBRASKA
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