For at least some portion of September 2022, at least parts of 18 of the 24 South Central Nebraska counties were assigned Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), with sections of three northeastern counties seeing a slight areal expansion of Extreme Drought (D3) early in the month. This marked the eighth consecutive month that D2 plagued parts of South Central Nebraska and the second straight month with limited D3. Although the majority of the area was drier-than-normal during September, fortunately things were not as dire as they had been in August when many places registered a Top-5 driest August on record (more on Sept. rainfall details below). Focusing on county-level USDM drought category specifics, September opened with at least portions of 17 South Central Nebraska counties assigned D2 (primarily within the northwest half of the area): Valley, Greeley, Nance, Sherman, Howard, Merrick, Polk, Dawson, Buffalo, Hall, Gosper, Phelps, Kearney, Adams, Furnas, Harlan and Franklin. Meanwhile, portions of three northeastern counties (Nance, Merrick, Howard) started off with D3...which had just been introduced in late-August. Outside of these worst-off areas, considerable coverage of Moderate Drought (D1) reigned across most of the remainder of the local area, although portions of a few far east-southeastern counties (including all of York County) were still hanging on to Abnormally Dry (D0) status. Over the course of the month, drought categories remained fairly stable/unchanged across most of the 24-county area. However, there were some limited 1-category degradations, particularly in far eastern counties where some expansion of D1/D2 occurred...including D2 introduced to eastern portions of Fillmore County on the Sept. 20th USDM. On a positive note, there were also some very localized 1-category improvements during the month thanks to pockets of heavier rain, including limited D2-becoming-D1 within parts of Furnas, Gosper, Valley and Greeley counties...and a stripe of D1-becoming-D0 along the extreme southern reaches of Franklin, Webster, and Nuckolls counties. The only part of the area that featured D0 throughout the entire month was southern Thayer and southeastern Fillmore counties.
Turning to September 2022 rainfall details, it was a story of continued bad news for most of South Central Nebraska, but with some limited encouraging trends...particularly in some western and far southern counties. The majority of the area measured somewhere between 1-3 inches, meaning modestly-below to modestly-above normal. Overall though, roughly two-thirds of the area registered below normal totals (generally less than 2.12). On the worst-off end of the rain gauge, roughly 18 percent of the area received less than one-half of normal (generally less than 1.06), with some of the greatest concentration of these lowest amounts focused within parts of Fillmore, Merrick, Nance, northern Thayer, northern Nuckolls and southeastern Clay counties. On a positive note, roughly one-third of the area tallied at least slightly above normal totals mainly in the 2.25-4.00 range, particularly within the majority of those locations residing both south of Interstate 80 and also west of Highway 281, along with a strip extending farther eastward along the Kansas border. Per several dozen NWS/CoCoRaHS observers, a few of the driest September totals included 0.60 in Cozad, 0.62 nine miles northeast of Palmer and 0.66 three miles northeast of Central City. On the more fortunate side of things, a few of the highest monthly tallies featured: 4.18 in Arapahoe, 3.96 in Cambridge and also six miles south-southeast of Lexington (Canaday Plant) and 3.35 three miles west of Gresham.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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