Drought monitor shows improvement, still work to be done

Video above shows maps from the U.S. Drought Monitor depicting drought conditions across Nebraska from March 15-May 3. 

The latest update from the U.S Drought Monitor shows improvement across Nebraska over the past week, but many in the state are still dealing with dry conditions.

It was a welcome reversal as previous drought monitor updates show conditions slowly degraded across Nebraska in March and April. 

The biggest area that saw improvement was central Nebraska. Parts of the region was downgraded from Extreme Drought to the Severe Drought conditions. 

According to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor, roughly 12 percent of the state is still under Extreme Drought conditions. That's down from 22 percent last week. 

In southeast Nebraska, much of the region dropped one or even two categories. Areas under no drought expanded out slightly into extreme southeastern Nebraska. 

Parts of western Nebraska, particularly in the central panhandle, were downgraded from Severe Drought to Moderate Drought conditions. 

Although the last week brought much needed rainfall, much of Nebraska is still behind on precipitation. 

About 98 percent of Nebraska's lands are at least abnormally dry for this time of year. 

Data reflected on the drought maps is current as of Tuesday, May 3. Data was published Thursday, May 5.