During June 2023, the vast majority of this six-county North Central Kansas area spent the entire month assigned at least Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) as a long-term drought situation persisted (only a small part of southeast Mitchell County featured slightly-better-off Moderate Drought/D1 throughout the month). In fact, June marked the 17th-consecutive month with at-least-D2 plaguing portions of the local area, and the third-straight month with at least limited coverage of worst-off Extreme Drought (D3) and Exceptional Drought (D4). However, after North Central Kansas saw its drought situation stoop to its overall-worst level in a decade during May, June featured some much-needed positive trends. Although it was not an overly-wet month, widespread near-to-modestly-above normal rainfall actually brought 1-category improvement to roughly half of the area, with only limited locations experiencing 1-category degradation. Focusing on county-level USDM drought category specifics during June, the month opened with roughly 95 percent of the six-county area assigned D2-or-worse (only a limited stripe of D1 across eastern Mitchell and extreme southeast Jewell counties). Of greater concern, roughly two-thirds of the domain featured D3-or worse and around one-third of the area contained worst-off D4 (including the vast majority of Rooks/Osborne counties). As June kicked into gear, drought improvement got underway with the first USDM issuance of the month, as a decent chunk of the area saw a 1-category change for the better...including noticeable reductions in D4 within mainly Rooks/Osborne counties and decreases in D3 mainly within Phillips/Smith counties. Then, a few weeks later, additional 1-category improvement took place...highlighted by a complete removal of D4 from Osborne and extreme western Mitchell counties, and removal of D2 from northwestern Phillips County. Unfortunately, the final June USDM issuance did bring some 1-category degradation to eastern parts of the area, although this mainly involved much of Jewell and northeastern Mitchell counties simply reverting back to D2 (which is where things stood for most of this area when the month began). At month's end, the drought situation stood as follows: 1) Worst-off D4 lingered within only western Rooks County...2) D3 encompassed most of primarily Osborne, Rooks and western Mitchell counties...3) D2 prevailed across most of the remainder of the area...4) Small zones of locally-best-off D1 resided in northwestern Phillips and southeastern Mitchell counties.
Turning to June 2023 precipitation details, overall it was good news (especially compared to recent dry months). The majority of North Central Kansas registered between 2-6 inches...generally 60-170 percent of normal. However, the vast majority of the area received at least two-thirds of normal rainfall, meaning that even the drier spots were not acutely dry. Per around 30 NWS and CoCoRaHS observers, some of the wettest June tallies featured: 6.22 in Lebanon, 6.03 in Formoso, 5.82 at Smith Center and 5.75 at Lovewell Dam. On the opposite end of the measuring stick, among the lowest monthly totals were: 1.72 near Damar, 1.95 in Logan, 2.16 ten miles west-northwest of Stockton and 2.36 in Plainville.

Drought in JEWELL, KANSAS
From 01-JUN-23 00:00:00 to 30-JUN-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in ROOKS, KANSAS
From 01-JUN-23 00:00:00 to 30-JUN-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in OSBORNE, KANSAS
From 01-JUN-23 00:00:00 to 30-JUN-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in MITCHELL, KANSAS
From 01-JUN-23 00:00:00 to 30-JUN-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in SMITH, KANSAS
From 01-JUN-23 00:00:00 to 30-JUN-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor

Drought in PHILLIPS, KANSAS
From 01-JUN-23 00:00:00 to 30-JUN-23 23:59:00 (CST-6)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Drought Monitor