Throughout November 2022, at least portions of 21 of the 24 South Central Nebraska counties were assigned at least Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), with parts of 11 counties assigned worse-off Extreme Drought (D3) following an early-month areal expansion of D3. This marked the tenth consecutive month that D2 plagued parts of the local area and the fourth straight month with at least limited coverage of D3. More specifically, nearly one-fourth of South Central Nebraska spent most of the month in D3...matching the largest areal coverage of D3 within the area since late April. Unfortunately, November was the second straight month with solidly below normal precipitation across the entire area (see below for more Nov. precipitation details). Focusing on county-level USDM drought category specifics, November 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) started 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, large portions of four northeastern counties opened the month with D3, including Merrick, Howard, Polk and nearly all of Nance. While drought categories remained largely unchanged throughout the month in most counties south of Interstate 80, the second week saw a fairly notable expansion of D3 within several counties mainly along/north of I-80. For one thing, D3 expanded to include more of the aforementioned four northeast counties (now encompassing all of Nance). In addition, fairly sizable portions of the following counties saw the introduction of D3: Valley, Greeley, Sherman, Dawson and Hall. Finally, to the south of I-80, small slivers of northwestern Gosper and southwestern Furnas counties were also nicked by D3 expansion. Following this early month degradation, drought categories remained stable across the vast majority of South Central Nebraska for the remainder of the month.
Turning to November 2022 precipitation details, this was the second-straight very dry month for the entirety of South Central Nebraska, but in light of monthly normals, November was even drier than October. In fact, around 98 percent of the area measured less than one-half of normal (generally less than 0.55) and roughly 80% of the area received LESS THAN ONE-FOURTH OF NORMAL (generally less than 0.28). Overall, the majority of the 24 counties totaled merely between 0.05-0.35. The overall-driest locations (greatest concentration of 0.10 or less) were scattered throughout the area, but tended to mostly favor far west-southwest counties such as Dawson/Gosper/Furnas/Harlan, with other localized pockets of extreme dryness in the Kearney and Central City areas. Per NWS Coop Observers, some of the paltriest monthly tallies included 0.02 in Beaver City and Orleans, 0.03 in Naponee and 0.04 in Edison, six miles north-northwest of Oxford and eight miles south of Elwood. On the wetter (but still solidly below normal) side of things, limited sections of mainly Thayer, Polk and York counties were the main recipients of one-half inch or more, highlighted by NWS/CoCoRaHS totals of 0.92 in Hubbell, 0.56 in Stromsburg, 0.52 six miles north of Bradshaw and 0.51 near Chester.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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