By Jackie Ourada - Nebraska Public Media News
As another wave of wildfires ignited Wednesday, western and central Nebraska property owners aren’t just praying for rain anymore – they’re preparing for how much worse this year could get.
The most recent findings released Thursday by the Lincoln-based National Drought Mitigation Center show drought has increased in the last week across a wide stretch of western and central Nebraska – from Sioux to Boyd counties. More than half of the state, 56%, is now seeing extreme levels of drought, according to the newest measurements released Thursday.
Brief drops of rain in eastern Nebraska over the past several weeks provided little relief. Improvements were only reported in a handful of counties in the very southeastern portion of Nebraska, primarily in Johnson, Nemaha and Otoe Counties.