From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for June 26, 1988:

It was nearly July and still hardly any rain had fallen on Lawrence. As drought conditions prevailed at the month’s end, area farmers with long memories were recalling similar conditions in the 1930s. “I remember 1934 when it was this dry, but this year the dry weather started earlier than it did back then,” said Ed Boehm, a rural Olathe farmer. According to the National Weather Service in Topeka, rainfall for this area in the summer of 1934 was about 7.5 inches, compared to a normal precipitation average for those months of 12.9 inches. So far this June in Lawrence, less than .1 of an inch of rain had fallen. Local prices for hay and feed grains were rising as their growth was stunted by lack of moisture. Rising feed prices were also prompting increases in cattle sales, which was driving down the market price of livestock.