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Central Great Plains

Last updated: October 22nd, 2026

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Name	†	Color on Map	EPA Code‡
Smoky Hills	∅		27a
Rolling Plains and Breaks	∅		27b
Great Bend Sand Prairie	∅		27c
Prairie Tableland	∅		27d
Central Nebraska Loess Plains	∅		27e
Rainwater Basin Plains	∅		27f
Platte River Valley	∅		27g
Red Prairie	∅		27h
Broken Red Plains	∅		27i
Limestone Plains	∅		27j
Wichita Mountains	∅		27k
Pleistocene Sand Dunes	∅		27l
Red River Tablelands	∅		27m
Gypsum Hills	∅		27n
Cross Timbers Transition	∅		27o
Salt Plains	∅		27p
Rolling Red Hills	∅		27q
Limestone Hills	∅		27r

† Status: ✓ = Complete ○ = Needs Image … = Incomplete ∅ = Stub Only

‡ This code refers to the US EPA's Level 4 ecoregion codes for the continental U.S., see here.

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↑About the Central Great Plains

The Central Great Plains are, as the name suggests, the most centrally-located portion of the Great Plains, stretching from a broad swath of south-central Nebraska, central Kansas, and western Oklahoma, south into a narrower portion of north Texas.

The climate here is transitional between humid climates to the east and semiarid or steppe climates to the west. The climate also transitions between severe-winter (continental) climates to the north and mild-winter (subtropical) climates to the south. Due to the flat topography and central location, the weather is variable from year to year, and subject to unpredictable hot, cold, wet, or dry spells. Precipitation here tends to be seasonal, however. The south of the region has an asymmetrical bimodal precipitation pattern, with wetter spring and fall, a brief dry season in summer, and then a longer dry season in winter. The summer dry season diminishes moving northward, and an asymmetry develops to where the northern half of this region has a pronounced rainy season in late April, May, and June, followed by more moderate rain through October, followed by a dry winter to early spring. This region is usually considered to be part of tornado alley or the tornado belt, which also extends eastward. The eastern portion of this region has a particularly high tornado frequency. Tornadoes mostly occur in late spring to early summer.

The terrain here ranges from nearly level to irregular, with broad valleys, and some hilly, dissected plains. The north of the region is underlain by relatively younger (Cretaceous) limestone, shale, and sandstone, whereas the south is underlain by much older (Permian) shale, sandstone, gypsum, and dolomite. Soils are variable throughout, but mostly consist of mollisols and alfisols, both of which are suitable for agriculture, and more poorly-developed entisols, which are less so. In the south, there are some vertisols, fine-textured clay soils prone to shrinking and swelling.

Most of the streams here are intermittent, but there are some perennial streams. A number of larger rivers cross the region, flowing west to east. Most of these rivers have braided channels on sandy substrates, and high turbidity. There are some springs throughout. There are few natural lakes, but a number of reservoirs have been created by damming, and there are also small artificial ponds.

Historically, this region was covered mostly in mixed-grass prairie, transitional between tallgrass prairie in the east and on moister sites, and shortgrass prairie in the west and on drier sites. The south of the region had some areas of scattered small trees and shrubs. Dominant species include little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), side-oats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), yellow indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), sand bluestem (Andropogon hallii), and sand dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus). The south of the region featured texas wintergrass (Nassella leucotricha), buffalo grass (Bouteloua dactyloides), white tridens (Tridens albescens), and some honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), lotebush (Ziziphus obtusifolia), sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia), and some Yucca sp.

Nowadays this region is mostly utilized for cropland, with a mixture of irrigated cropland and dryland farming, with smaller amounts of pastureland and rangeland. Winter wheat is a major crop here, and the eastern border of this region corresponds roughly to the eastern limit of winter wheat production. The region also produces corn, sorghum, alfalfa, and in the south, cotton.

The population density here is patchy, with some parts of it more populous and others less so. There are also significant urban centers. The largest cities, in decreasing order of population, include Oklahoma City, OK, followed by Witchita, KS, and Abilene, TX. There are also some smaller cities, including (not in any order) Kearney, NE, Grand Island, NE, Dodge City, KS, and Hays, KS. There are numerous small towns throughout.

In the north, this region is bordered to the west by the High Plains, a higher-elevation region that also is significantly drier. In the south, it is bordered to the west by the Southwestern Tablelands, which also juts out into the region irregularly in several places. To the south there is a small border with the warmer, drier Edwards Plateau. The southern half of the region is bordered to the east by the Cross Timbers, a region transitional between grassland and forest. North of that there is a small border to the east with the Flint Hills, and north of that, a border to the east and northeast with the Western Corn Belt Plains. The north end of the region is bordered to the northwest by the Nebraska Sand Hills, region of excessively-drained sands covered in shortgrass prairie.

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