The winter weather is causing its share of problems in Western Kansas. Western Kansas has been in a long-term drought for several years, but through all the snow and ice, a record setting December could provide some needed relief.

Snowfall, slick roads, and slippery surfaces are causing plenty of headaches for many, but believe it or not, it is a headache relief for others. Crop fields have been longing for water and once the sun melts the snow away, they will have it.

Last month re-wrote record books in Dodge City where it was the wettest December since 1877, bringing around 4 1/2 inches of precipitation. It was the same story in Goodland, where normally the last month of the year brings a half-inch of rain, but this year it brought over three.

The rain and snow in Western Kansas has been enough so that most Western Kansas counties were taken out of the severe drought category, and upgraded to moderate.

Even though Sedgwick County didn't see as much snow and ice as the western part of the state, December was still a good month with precipitation up about a third of an inch. Still, despite the wet December, most parts of the state were still below average for the entire year