Drought is worst in quarter-century
Staff writer
Despite Tuesday’s rain, Marion County is suffering from the most serious drought the county has faced in a quarter of a century.
The drought is the least serious in the county’s far northern tier, including Ramona and Lost Springs. A sliver of land there officially was listed last week as suffering moderate drought, the second least serious of five drought categories.
The county’s southwest corner, including both Peabody and Goessel, was listed as suffering extreme drought, the second worst category.
The rest of the county was listed as suffering severe drought, in between those two categories.
Compared to other years’ readings for first week of May, the drought in Marion County is the most severe since similar readings were reported in 2018.
Nothing even approaching that level of dryness during the first week of May has been recorded for the county in the 23 years since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s drought monitoring program began keeping record.
The worst drought conditions in Kansas stretch northwest to southeast across the state from near Oberlin, Oakley, and Tribune to just west of Sedan and Fredonia.
Drought is not affecting the northeastern portion of the state, starting at about Emporia.