How much rain did Wichita get in May? Are we in a drought? Here’s what to know

Despite some rain over the last week of May, the Wichita area still fell short of what would be considered a normal amount of precipitation.

In total, the National Weather Service office at the airport measured 3.36 inches of rain in May. Of the 3.36 inches of rain that the city received, 1.91 inches fell on May 28.

“Almost 2 inches below normal,” Wichita-based meteorologist Scott Smith said. A normal amount of May rainfall is 5.17 inches.

This was also considerably less rain than May 2025, when the area received 7.65 inches of rain, records show.

Is more rain on the way?

As we head into the first week of June, more rain could be on the way.

“It looks like we’ve got some chances for rain just about every day, so we may get into a wet period,” Smith said. “Starting late (June 1) and really through the end of the week, through Sunday, we’ve got off and on chances for rain ... so hopefully we’ll put a dent into that abnormally dry (month) and get us a little bit more rain.”

The highest chances for rain are Friday night through Saturday night, with a 50% chance the Wichita area sees showers and thunderstorms.

Is Wichita in a drought?

As of the latest drought report released May 28, Smith said the Wichita area is in what is referred to as “D0” on the drought scale.

“It’s not technically drought, but it’s abnormally dry,” he said. And even with the rain that fell at the end of the month, Smith said he doesn’t expect he’d see much change when the next report is released June 4.

If dry conditions continue, the area would move into “D1,” which means a moderate drought.

Christopher Redmond, a meteorologist with the K-State Weather Data Library, said the above-normal temperatures that Wichita experienced in the first part of the year and the longer periods of time between rainfalls can continue to exasperate drought conditions.

“Making matters worse, when it does rain, since the warmer air can hold more moisture, the rain intensity is very high,” he said. “This results in more run-off, flash flooding and less penetration into the soil. Soils then remain parched and tend to dry out quicker.”

He said it would take above-normal moisture to bring the Wichita area closer to normal this summer.