Extreme drought confirmed for first time in two years

A portion of Crook County has descended into extreme drought for the first time in more than two years.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the southwest corner of the county is part of a patch of extreme drought that covers half of Campbell and the majority of Weston counties.

Just under 10% of Crook County is now listed as in extreme drought, with 61% in severe drought and just under 30%, to the southeast, in moderate drought.

Through August, Crook County had received 1.74 fewer inches of precipitation than an average year. Streamflows are currently reported as below normal on both the Belle Fourche River and Redwater Creek on the eastern side of the county.

Times of drought, of course, bring extra fire danger. Crook County has so far avoided incidents in the thousands of acres, but numerous large blazes continue in the northeast of the state – including the Short Draw fire, located on the Montana border north of Gillette, which was discovered on September 11 and quickly grew to 40,000 acres.

The fire danger is not limited to Wyoming. At this time, the national fire preparedness level remains at five, the highest possible level.

As of last week, large fires had burned just under 2.5 million acres across the nation and 67 large fires were being suppressed.

Drought in this county is predicted to persist over the next three months. The National Weather Service anticipates an above average probability of temperatures higher than usual for this time of the year for most of the rest of the year.