(AP) — North Platte has just experienced its driest 365-day period in recorded history.

The National Weather Service office in North Platte says less than 7¼ inches of rain fell between April 28, 2012, and Saturday. The office recorded less than 1¼ inches on April 27 last year and less than an inch on any rainy day since.

Weather service meteorologist Bill Taylor says the last comparable period of 365 days would be found during the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s.

The National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln says much of west-central Nebraska remains in exceptional or extreme drought.