Drought is over in Kansas, but for how long?

Not so long ago, the U.S. Drought Monitor map of Kansas was a colorful and therefore alarming array of yellow, orange, red and brown, showing conditions from dry to exceptionally parched. So the all-white map released Thursday was a wonder – the first time Kansas has been drought-free since July 13, 2010. Any celebration should be tempered by U.S. Department of Agriculture data showing the 2012 drought cost farmers more than $3 billion in crop losses, for example, and the reality that drought is unlikely to be gone for long in Kansas. – Rhonda Holman