Even with 2 feet of snow, Plains remain drought-stricken

ST. LOUIS -- Nearly 2 feet of snow should offer some relief for the parched states in the Great Plains -- but it's no drought-buster.

Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma have been buried the past week by twin snowstorms that dropped nearly 2 feet of snow in some areas.

Those states also have been at the epicenter of the worst drought the nation has seen in decades.

The bad news is a foot of snow equals only about an inch of rain, so the big storms seen recently won't break the drought in areas that are short as much as 20 inches of rain.

Also, snow that melts on top of frozen ground tends to run off into lakes and streams rather than absorbing into the dry soil.

"If we get one more storm like this, with widespread 2 inches of moisture, we will continue to chip away at the drought," said meteorologist Mike Umscheid of the National Weather Service office in Dodge City. "But to claim the drought is over or ending is way too premature."