Storm, Floods Erase Drought Symptoms

Cheyenne County’s recent heavy wet snow has all but dissolved the drought concerns in Nebraska’s Panhandle.

The March 21 drought monitor shows two counties defined as “abnormally dry” from the Wyoming border to Iowa. The map also shows no drought concerns from North Dakota to the Oklahoma-Kansas state line.

The definition might seem obvious with the eastern half of the state trying to manage flood conditions. However, prior to the recent storm, the account was much different. The drought monitor shows that in late 2018 and into 2019, as much as 90 percent of Nebraska was defined as “abnormally...