Although not as severely dry as the previous year, 2023 was another overall-drier-than-normal year for most of the 30 counties served by the National Weather Service office at Hastings. The weather service has reported about 75 perecent of the area received at least slightly below normal precipitation, with counties east of Highway 281 the overall-driest. Of the approximately one-fourth of the 30-county area that received slightly above normal precipitation, it was almost entirely concentrated within counties west of Highway 281. The majority of the area tallied between 20 and 27 inches of pre...