Nationwide
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A series of storms dropped moderate to heavy precipitation on much of the eastern half of the country, with 3 to locally 6 inches of rain falling on a swath from central Alabama to central South Carolina, near the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers confluence, areas from the Delmarva Peninsula to southeastern New York state, and portions of the Cascades and coastal regions of Washington and portions of Oregon.
Temperatures did not average far from normal except in the southwestern and northeastern parts of the country. The Southwest, The Great Basin, most of California, and New England experienced temperatures up to 5 deg. F in spots. In addition, episodes of low humidity and strong winds worsened dryness across much of the Plains and the adjacent Rockies.
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The West
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The West Region endured another dry week, with the heaviest precipitation falling along and west of the Cascades in Washington and northern Oregon (generally 1.5 to 3.5 inches, with isolated amounts reaching 6 inches in the highest elevations). This is one of two areas free of dryness and drought (northwestern Montana and adjacent Idaho is the other).
D2 and D3 cover a large majority of the West Region, and exceptional drought (D4) has become entrenched in the Oregon Cascades, south-central Nevada, parts of southern New Mexico, and northeastern New Mexico. Slow worsening and expansion continued, with a noticeable deterioration in parts of New Mexico, Nevada, and California this week.
Water storage in the two largest reservoirs in the west—Lake Powell along the central Arizona/Utah border and Lake Mead farther downstream along the Colorado River—has dropped to unprecedented levels. In early April, the combined storage was only 44 percent of the average since 1964, and less than 75 percent of the storage in Lake Mead alone just before Lake Powell started to fill.
The High Plains
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An inch or two of precipitation fell on northwestern South Dakota, a small part of eastern North Dakota, and the highest elevations of north-central Colorado. Elsewhere, a few areas of 0.5 to 1.0 inch was observed in parts of the central and southern Dakotas, northwestern Nebraska, and several swaths scattered across Wyoming.
A few tenths of an inch, at best, fell elsewhere. Dryness and drought cover a large majority of the High Plains Region; only the east-central and northeastern Dakotas and eastern Kansas are free of any significant dryness. D2 to D3 cover central and western parts of the Region, including all of Wyoming, Colorado, and most of Nebraska. Over the past several months, slow intensification and expansion have been noted across many areas, and D3 expanded to cover additional portions of north-central Wyoming, central Nebraska, and an area near the western Kansas/Nebraska border.
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Elsewhere, few changes were introduced. Recently, strong winds and low humidity have made dryness more acute, especially in southern parts of the Region.
The South
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Only limited areas recorded light to moderate precipitation, with most sites reporting little or none. Between 2 and 4 inches fell on small areas in northeastern Oklahoma, northeastern Arkansas, and northwestern Tennessee. Most other areas of northern Tennessee observed 1.5 to 2.5 inches, and similar amounts fell in northern Arkansas and eastern Louisiana. Several tenths of an inch were measured in the rest of Tennessee and central Louisiana, but almost all of Texas and Oklahoma experienced a precipitation-free week.
In general, dryness and drought worsen moving from northeast to southwest across the South Region. Eastern Oklahoma, central and northern Arkansas, and almost all of Tennessee are free of significant dryness. In sharp contrast, D2 to D4 drought covers southern Louisiana, most of the western half of Oklahoma, and Texas’s central and eastern reaches. Exceptional drought (D4) covers several sizeable areas in the western half of Texas and the Oklahoma Panhandle. Only a few tenths of an inch of precipitation has fallen at best since early February across central and south-central Texas, with 17 sites reporting rainfall totals among the driest 2 percent of the historical distribution for the period, as did a few sites in northwestern Texas outside the Panhandle.
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For the past half-year, less than 10 percent of average precipitation has been observed in part of west-central Texas, including much of the Big Bend, while less than 25 percent of normal fell on most of the western half of Texas and the Oklahoma Panhandle. In addition, episodes of low humidity and strong winds worsened the situation across the already-parched region, leading to high wildfire danger and areas of blowing dust. — UNL Drought Monitor
The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center projects La Niсa is favored to continue through the Northern Hemisphere summer (59 percent chance during June-August 2022), with a 50-55 percent chance through the fall.
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