During April 2023, at least portions of five of the six North Central Kansas counties continued to be (or were newly) assigned at least Severe Drought (D2) by the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM). This marked the 15th consecutive month that D2 plagued parts of the local area. However, of greater concern during the month was the introduction of both Extreme Drought (D3) and worst-off Exceptional Drought (D4) into mainly southwestern parts of the area. This marked the first appearance of D3 anywhere within North Central Kansas in nearly 9 years (since June 2014) and the first instance of D4 in the area in over 9.5 years (since August 2013). It is little surprise that the drought situation went further downhill during the month, given that a very dry March was immediately followed by an exceptionally dry April (see below for more April precipitation details). Focusing on county-level USDM drought category specifics during the month, things opened with D2 covering all of Rooks County, along with roughly the western two-thirds of Osborne County, the southwestern half of Phillips County and a narrow strip of southern Smith County. Elsewhere within the six-county domain, Moderate Drought (D1) was present to start April in nearly all other places, except for a lingering zone of overall-best-off Abnormally Dry D0 within eastern Mitchell County. However, degradation got underway already on the April 11th USDM issuance, as D3 was introduced to southern portions of Rooks/Osborne counties, D2 expanded eastward into western Mitchell County, and eastern Mitchell County went from D0 to D1. Through the rest of the month, the entire D1 area and most of the D2 area remained unchanged, but the D3 zone expanded northward and D4 was introduced to far southwest locales. More specifically, by the April 25th USDM, D4 was present across much of the southern two-thirds of Rooks County along with southwestern Osborne County, and a narrow buffer zone of D3 extended northward into more of Rooks, Osborne, southwestern Phillips and extreme southwestern Mitchell counties. At month's end, only Jewell County remained void of D2-or-worse.
Turning to April 2023 precipitation details, it was overall bad news, with all of North Central Kansas registering between moderately and tremendously-below normal precipitation. More specifically, the majority of the six-county domain totaled between 0.15-0.90 inch, or roughly 5-40 percent of normal. In fact, around 95 percent of the area measured less than one-half of monthly normals, and roughly 85% of it registered less than ONE-FOURTH of normal! Some official, long-term NWS stations bemoaned a Top-5 driest April on record, including Plainville 4WNW (0.06...THE DRIEST on record out of 114) and Beloit (0.43...2nd-driest out of 115). Per around 20 NWS and CoCoRaHS observers, some of the most dire April tallies included: 0.06 four miles west north-west of Plainville, 0.08 ten miles west-northwest of Stockton, 0.10 at Webster Dam and 0.14 in Cawker City. On the slightly more fortunate (but still well below normal side of things), a few of the highest monthly totals featured: 1.24 ten miles south-southwest of Beloit, 0.92 at Lovewell Dam and 0.87 in Natoma.

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

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

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

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