By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
Since January this year, parts of western Kansas received almost 16 inches of above-normal precipitation, including towns like Liberal, Dodge City and Goodland.
These rains took some pressure off places like Garden City, which had the dryest year on record last year, and according to the Kansas Geological Survey, its conditions rivaled the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.
Water data manager Brownie Wilson said the rainfall greatly removed stress from groundwater use.
"When it rains or doesn't rain, it really determines how much groundwater is pumped or not," Wilson said.
Wilson said the extra precipitation decreased the pumping demands of farming operations, but due to Kansas' geology, it did not cause much aquifer recharge.
Over the High Plains Aquifer system in the West, which includes the Ogallala, Great Bend, and Equus Beds aquifers, the rock beds are deep and challenging to reach for most precipitation.
Significant precipitation events may not recharge the aquifers in western Kansas but decrease the groundwater system's decline.
"South-central Kansas, however, does tend to recharge a lot more than water tables closer to the land surface, and it's very sandy," Wilson said. "So those areas can actually get beneficial recharge from big precipitation events."
The aquifer is close to the surface in south-central Kansas. The aquifer is less than 100 feet from the surface in some areas.
Read More: NWS: Areas of Kansas see driest year since 1980
Although the rain is welcome in western Kansas, most south-central and southeast Kansas received below-normal rainfall.
This year's regions impacted the most include Hutchinson, Emporia and almost 16 inches below-normal rainfall in Coffeyville and Chanute.
According to Wichita National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Katcham, south-central and southeastern Kansas will continue to see dry conditions.
"We're in a dry period again, unfortunately," Katcham said. "In the short term, dry conditions with low relative humidities lead to increased elevated fire risk."
Katcham stressed the importance of fire risk during dry periods, with a chance of very high or extreme fire danger as Kansas sees high wind speeds through the fall.