The Drought Monitor, as of this past Tuesday, shows the pattern of last week lessening a bit with extreme and severe drought encompassing much of Northwest and Southwest Kansas as last week. Most of Barton, Stafford, Pawnee, Rice and Reno counties are now listed as abnormally dry as opposed to moderate drought. This doesn’t include the rain/snow that fell in parts of Kansas last Wednesday. The six to ten-day outlook (Dec. 9-13) indicates slightly above normal temperatures for the state. Precipitation should be normal to slightly above normal. The eight to 14 day outlook (Dec. 11-17) indicates normal temperatures and below normal precipitation.