Throughout February 2023, at least portions of four of the six North Central Kansas counties continued to be assigned Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). This marked the 13th consecutive month that D2 plagued parts of the local area. Although the lingering, longer-term drought situation remained firmly intact, at least parts of the area saw encouraging trends for the second straight month, with roughly two-thirds of the area picking up near-to-slightly above normal precipitation (see below for more Feb. precipitation details). Focusing on county-level USDM drought category specifics during February, there was actually no change whatsoever across North Central Kansas over the course of the month. The month opened and closed with D2 afflicting all of Rooks County, along with roughly the western two-thirds of Osborne County, the southwestern half of Phillips County and a portion of far southern Smith County. Elsewhere within the six-county domain, Moderate Drought (D1) persisted over the majority of Smith and Jewell counties, along with roughly the northeast half of Phillips County, the eastern third of Osborne County and a small portion of northwestern Mitchell County. Finally, the overall best-off areas, assigned Abnormally Dry (D0), lingered over most of Mitchell along with southeastern Jewell counties.
Turning to February 2023 precipitation details, although total amounts were not nearly enough to put a significant dent in drought categories (due to the winter months being the overall-driest months of the year on average), February nonetheless carried over some promising trends from January for the roughly two-thirds of the area that received near-to-slightly-above normal precipitation. More specifically, most areas along and north of a line from Plainville-Osborne-Mankato totaled somewhere between 0.65-1.00 inches, or roughly 80-120 percent of normal. The totals in these areas were bolstered in large part by a somewhat significant mid-month winter storm that dumped 3-7 of snow. Unfortunately, below normal monthly amounts prevailed in the southeastern reaches of the local area, particularly within much of Mitchell, southern Osborne and southeastern Rooks Counties, where totals were mainly in the 0.25-0.50 range at best. Per around 20 NWS and CoCoRaHS observers, some of the highest February tallies featured: 1.12 at Kirwin Dam, 1.10 in Phillipsburg and 1.04 four miles west-northwest of Plainville. On the less fortunate side of the precipitation ledger, some of the lowest February totals included: 0.26 ten miles south-southwest of Beloit, 0.30 in Natoma and 0.45 near Hunter.

Drought in SMITH, KANSAS
From 01-FEB-23 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 01-FEB-23 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 01-FEB-23 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 01-FEB-23 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor