Nationwide
The Southern Plains, Pacific Coast, Mississippi Valley, and south Florida received the greatest amount of rain this week, with some areas recording 5+ inches of rain for the week. Dryness over the East and West was also accompanied by above-normal temperatures over the West.
Temperatures were 3-6 F above normal in the Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico regions, while the Northern Plains were 6-9 F above normal. Many dry areas of the Plains and Midwest have not developed drought due to unseasonably cool temperatures in May.
The West
Most of the region was dry for the week with the exception of the Pacific Northwest and northern California, where 150-200 percent of normal precipitation was recorded.
In the Pacific Northwest, the recent rains helped to slow down further degradation in Oregon and Washington, with portions of the abnormally dry areas of western Washington improved this week.
Oregon has some improvement to the severe and extreme drought over the southwest portions of the state but did see moderate drought expand slightly over portions of the western areas of the state.
Conditions in Nevada and Utah continue to decline with an intensification of moderate and severe drought over northern portions of both states as the short-term dryness is starting to combine with the long-term issues in these areas.
New Mexico had an expansion of moderate, severe, and extreme drought in the northern portions of the state as some of the recent dryness is coupled with longer-term issues in the drought indicators. Abnormally dry conditions were expanded over most of eastern New Mexico as a result of short-term issues.
Southwest Colorado had an expansion of extreme and severe drought conditions while moderate drought was expanded northward over the central portion of the state.
The High Plains
Temperatures over the region were generally 6-8 F below normal, with portions of Colorado and Wyoming the outliers with temperatures 2-4 F above normal.
Most of the region was fairly dry for the week with many areas below normal for precipitation during one of the wettest months of the year. Portions of western South Dakota, western Nebraska, northeast Colorado, and southeast Kansas did record precipitation that was well above normal with 150-400 percent of normal for the week.
With the dryness throughout much of the area, abnormally dry conditions were expanded and moderate drought was introduced to portions of western North Dakota and into South Dakota. Abnormally dry conditions were expanded through central and southeast Nebraska and portions of northeast Kansas.
Northeast Colorado did see some improvement due to recent heavy rains as the severe and moderate drought as well as the abnormally dry conditions shifted south slightly. — U.S. Drought Monitor
