Topeka ? Recent rains in Kansas have eased drought conditions throughout much of the state, but 33 counties remain under a drought watch, state officials said Tuesday.

Gov. Sam Brownback issued an executive order Tuesday updating the drought declaration that has been in place since 2012, which at times had listed all 105 counties as either under a drought declaration or a drought watch.

Tuesday’s update removed 72 counties from the list entirely but left the other 33 counties, mainly in central and western Kansas, under a drought watch.

A drought watch is defined by the U.S. Geological Survey as an alert about the onset of conditions indicating the potential for future drought-related problems. It typically involves a request for voluntary water conservation measures to reduce water use in the affected areas.

Brownback’s office said the action was recommended by Tracy Streeter, director of the Kansas Water Office and chairman of the Governor’s Drought Response Team.

“While there have been some historic rain events this past month, we are not going to take our eye off of drought planning and future mitigation,” Streeter said. “As we start to enter into warmer drier months of the year, we know drought conditions can return quickly.”

The executive order authorizes all agencies under the jurisdiction of the governor to implement the appropriate watch level-drought response actions assigned in the Operations Plan of the Governor’s Drought Response Team.

The state’s drought declaration is separate from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s secretarial drought disaster declaration, which is based on agricultural losses, the governor’s office said.