Official weather records from the K-State Agricultural Research Center show Hays with 14.54 inches of moisture so far this year.
By the end of August, the average annual rainfall in Hays is 17.57 inches.
High Plains
During the last week in July, rain fell in a band roughly from northeast Colorado through the Nebraska Panhandle and across central and southeast South Dakota. Otherwise, dry weather prevailed in the High Plains during the last week of July.
Temperatures were warmer than normal in the Colorado high plains, southeast Wyoming, and northeast North Dakota, while cooler than normal temperatures occurred in southwest North Dakota, western South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, and southeast and south-central Kansas. Warmer than normal temperatures in northern North Dakota were putting stress on soil moisture conditions, resulting in a slight expansion of short-term moderate drought to the southeast. Otherwise, the region remained free of drought.
Abnormal dryness developed in parts of central Kansas including Ellis County, and northeast Nebraska, where short-term precipitation deficits were developing.