During March 2023, at least portions of 23 of the 24 South Central Nebraska counties were assigned at least Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), with 21 of these counties containing D2 throughout the entire month. Of greater concern, at least parts of seven counties featured worse-off Extreme Drought (D3) during March. This marked the 14th consecutive month that D2 plagued parts of the local area and the eighth straight month with at least limited coverage of D3. Unfortunately, following some encouraging recent precipitation trends during January-February, March ushered in renewed disappointment as the entire area registered anything from slightly to significantly below normal precipitation (see below for more March precipitation details). Focusing on county-level USDM drought category specifics during March, there was overall-little change across South Central Nebraska as a whole, but officially there was a minor increase in the areal coverage of D2 and a minor decrease of D3. The month opened with at least portions of 21 counties containing D2. This D2 blanketed the majority of real estate along/north of the Highway 6 corridor, with only three far southeastern local counties (Webster/Nuckolls/Thayer) holding onto a varied mix of Moderate Drought (D1) and Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions. On the worst-off side of things, roughly one-eighth of the area opened the month in D3, the majority concentrated within the northeast quadrant of the area. This included all of Nance County, most of Merrick County, and at least small portions of Greeley, Howard, Polk, and Hall counties. Meanwhile, well off to the southwest, a separate patch of D3 also afflicted southwestern Furnas County. Although most places maintained status quo throughout the month, the first USDM release of March (valid March 7th) expanded D2 into roughly the northern two-thirds of Thayer County along with northeastern Nuckolls County, and also expanded D1 into southeastern Thayer County (thus removing the last vestige of D0 within South Central Nebraska). On a more positive, but somewhat surprising note, the March 7th USDM removed D3 from parts of primarily Greeley, Howard and Nance counties (although D3 was not completely removed from these counties). Following these early-month drought category adjustments, the only other change occurred on the March 28th USDM as D2 was expanded across much of York and east-central Hamilton counties (both of these counties now entirely D2). At month's end, only Webster County remained entirely void of D2.
Turning to March 2023 precipitation details, the entirety of South Central Nebraska tallied somewhere between slightly and significantly below normal precipitation. The majority of the 24-county domain totaled between 0.30-1.10 inches, or roughly 20-80 percent of normal. Of note, roughly half of the area measured no more than one-half of normal March precipitation, and roughly 20% of it registered no more than one-third of normal. The overall-highest monthly amounts (greatest concentration of around 1 or more) focused within a corridor extending from southwestern counties (such as Phelps/Kearney) to northeastern counties (such as Polk/Nance/Merrick). Monthly totals in this corridor were bolstered by a fairly narrow swath of heavier precipitation (including as much as 5-9 of snow) that fell on the 25th-26th. Meanwhile, the overall-lowest March precipitation amounts (greatest concentration of around 0.50 or less) focused both within extreme southern areas (mainly the southern halves of counties along the Kansas border) and also parts of far northern and west-central counties such as Valley, Greeley, northern Sherman and Dawson. Per around 150 NWS and NeRAIN/CoCoRaHS observers, some of the highest March tallies featured: 1.32 in Holdrege, 1.31 in Cairo, 1.30 near Giltner and 1.22 nine miles northeast of Palmer. On the much drier side of things, some of the paltriest March totals included: 0.16 in Spalding, 0.18 at North Loup, 0.20 near Sumner and 0.26 in Greeley.

Drought in NUCKOLLS, NEBRASKA
From 07-MAR-23 00:00:00 to 31-MAR-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in THAYER, NEBRASKA
From 07-MAR-23 00:00:00 to 31-MAR-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor