By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
Western Kansas often stays dry throughout the summer months, but according to National Weather Service Wichita, the state’s western regions have received above-normal rain since January.
According to NWS, most of the southeastern region of Kansas received eight to 12 inches below-normal precipitation, causing the driest year for El Dorado and Iola since 1980.
Wichita NWS meteorologist Brad Katcham said the transition from a La Niña weather pattern to a El Niño one affected the precipitation patterns for Kansas.
“During those transition periods, sometimes you get areas that become unusually dry unfortunately,” Katcham said. “The benefit of it has been for the western half of Kansas, they’ve gotten quite a bit of rain this year and actually, well above-normal in some areas.”
READ: NWS Prediction: El Niño and shifting weather shifting weather patterns
Katcham said during the summer months, western Kansas saw multiple storms that it would normally have missed during a non-transition year.
The more than 12 inches of rain that some of western Kansas saw could also benefit the The High Plains Aquifer, comprised of the Ogallala, Great Bend Prairie and Equus Beds aquifer regions.
According to Katcham, the rain in western Kansas allowed for limited ground-water recharge, the system that allows rainwater to re-enter ground-water systems like aquifers.
“All good rains like this are beneficial to it,” Katcham said. “The more that we can get rains to recharge the aquifer, the better we are.”