Growing season precipitation for Kansas in 2022

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Adequate moisture is a must for crops and ultimately yield. Problems arise when too much or too little precipitation falls. Unfortunately, the nature of climate is the average of extremes on the high and low end of the spectrum. Additionally, geography favors more moisture for eastern Kansas, with a decrease in averages with western extent. This year, we have a drought situation across much of the state. This article will provide some historical perspective of 2022 precipitation thus far.

Rainfall period: April 1 to July 20, 2022

The dataset for this report consists of precipitation received at 36 different locations across Kansas from the period April 1-July 20, 2022 (Table 1), which we will refer to herein as the “growing season” to date. For inclusion, a site must have at least 50 years of data, and each year must have no more than 7 missing records. Four sites were selected from each of Kansas’ nine climate regions (Figure 1) to give equal representation across all areas of the state. The rank listed for each city is calculated by sorting each site’s precipitation totals for the same period in ascending order, from driest to wettest. The driest of all years ranks 1st, the next driest 2nd, and so forth. But, since each site has been around for a different number of years, evaluating sites by ranks doesn’t fairly compare them. A better way to compare sites with different periods of record is to sort by percentiles.
 

Table 1. Total precipitation from April 1-July 20, 2022, in order of increasing percentile.

Site	County	Climate Division	Precip. (in.)	Rank	Years	Percentile
Healy	Lane	KS04	2.64	1	122	1
Garden City	Finney	KS07	1.89	1	70	1
Russell Springs	Logan	KS04	3.96	3	75	4
Tribune	Greeley	KS04	3.60	5	113	4
WaKeeney	Trego	KS04	5.35	5	112	4
Dodge City	Ford	KS07	4.28	5	109	5
Colby	Thomas	KS01	5.10	5	68	7
Hill City	Graham	KS01	5.18	7	89	8
Ashland	Clark	KS07	5.83	10	123	8
Atwood	Rawlins	KS01	6.03	9	96	9
Goodland	Sherman	KS01	5.35	16	109	15
Beloit	Mitchell	KS02	9.73	28	108	26
Russell	Russell	KS05	8.57	19	71	27
Smith Center	Smith	KS02	8.96	30	107	28
Hugoton	Stevens	KS07	7.38	33	107	31
Greensburg	Kiowa	KS08	9.05	35	105	33
Holton	Jackson	KS03	14.09	35	101	35
Chanute	Neosho	KS09	16.04	46	111	41
Concordia	Cloud	KS02	11.64	63	137	46
Atchison	Atchison	KS03	15.61	59	116	51
Clay Center	Clay	KS02	13.59	60	114	53
Emporia	Lyon	KS06	16.66	29	52	56
Lawrence	Douglas	KS06	16.96	73	122	60
Topeka	Shawnee	KS06	16.29	47	76	62
Arkansas City	Cowley	KS09	16.83	49	79	62
McPherson	McPherson	KS05	15.28	84	126	67
Wellington	Sumner	KS08	18.38	78	109	72
Osage City	Osage	KS06	19.13	72	99	73
Parsons	Labette	KS09	22.90	73	97	75
Manhattan	Riley	KS03	19.05	98	126	78
Wichita	Sedgwick	KS08	18.58	55	69	80
Newton	Harvey	KS08	18.64	96	119	81
Salina	Saline	KS05	16.41	53	65	82
Marysville	Marshall	KS03	17.93	63	75	84
Fort Scott	Bourbon	KS09	22.87	95	113	84
Abilene	Dickinson	KS05	19.04	89	99	90

 

Figure 1. Map of Kansas Climate Divisions.

 

A quick example to clarify the interpretation of percentiles is in order. For example, at Manhattan, precipitation for the growing season this year ranks as the 98^th driest out of 126 years. The listed percentile, 78, means that 78% of the 126 years on record at Manhattan are drier than 2022 for the growing season. A percentile of 50 indicates the median, or middle, value out of all seasons. Percentiles less than 50 indicate drier years than the median, and those above 50 are wetter years.

The lack of precipitation in the western third of Kansas is clearly evident in the data. Eleven of the twelve lowest percentiles are in western Kansas, with Healy and Garden City the most extreme, as both of their growing seasons rank as the driest on record!  Looking at Garden City since the beginning of the year, it remains the driest on record (Figure 2). Colby, Dodge City, and Hill City are just three of the locations experiencing one of their 10 driest growing seasons. Central and eastern Kansas have had more precipitation, and most of those sites have above median precipitation, with a few exceptions. As we know, a stray thunderstorm can drop a lot of rain in one county and miss the next one, so there is variation in percentiles even within the same climate division. Wichita, Salina, and Manhattan have all had copious amounts of precipitation this spring, but it’s Abilene that has the highest percentile currently of 90. Only ten percent of the years on record in Abilene have had more precipitation.
 

Figure 2. Garden City accumulated precipitation since January 1^st showing the driest on record as of July 20, 2022.

 

As we move into late summer, it will be interesting to see how this year will stack up compared to previous years across the state. One thing is for certain: western Kansas desperately needs moisture. Driest on record, while climatologically significant, is potentially devastating to agriculture interests in Kansas. Here’s hoping things change for the better soon.

 

 

Matthew Sittel, Assistant State Climatologist
msittel@ksu.edu

Christopher “Chip” Redmond, Kansas Mesonet Manager
christopherredmond@k-state.edu

Tags:  weather Climate precipitation