SNR Communications LINCOLN, Neb. — Groundwater levels rose significantly across most of Nebraska from January 2019 to January 2020, and the state received so much precipitation over that period that a new color was added to the 2019-20 precipitation map included in the recently released 2020 Nebraska Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report. “We ran out of blues, so we had to go to purple,” said Aaron Young, a geologist with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of Natural Resources and lead author of the report. Over that period, Young said, 159 of 163 weather stations across Nebraska measured more precipitation than the 30-year normal. While most of the state was bathed one shade of blue or another to reflect bountiful totals, the purple dot was added in Cherry County, where 212% of normal precipitation fell.