Nationwide
Over the last week, precipitation was greatest in portions of the Southeast and coastal areas of northern California.
Widespread precipitation was recorded from Arkansas into the Midwest and along much of the eastern seaboard from the Mid-Atlantic up into New England. Much of the Plains, Southwest, and Rocky Mountains were quite dry during this period as well as much of the Florida peninsula. Temperatures were cooler than normal over the northern Plains and much of the Midwest, with 5-10 degrees below normal departures. Above normal temperatures were recorded over the northern Rocky Mountains, the southern Plains and into the South, where departures were 5-10 degrees above normal. Most other locations observed temperatures near normal.
The West
Most of the southern and southwest portions of the region were dry for the week. After an early start to the snow season, many areas have seen snowfall drop considerably and be below normal for this time of year.
The wettest areas were in northern California, the Great Basin, and southern Idaho and Montana. Temperatures were mainly 3-6 degrees above normal throughout the region, with only those areas recording the most rains being below normal for the week. Even with the precipitation, changes to the drought status in the region were minimal this week. Moderate drought improved in northern Utah and southwest Wyoming. Extreme drought expanded in northwest Wyoming, while northern Colorado was abnormally dry, and moderate drought expanded slightly.
The High Plains
It was a dry week for most of the region, with only areas of southeastern Nebraska, northeastern Kansas, northern North Dakota and the Plains of eastern Wyoming and Montana showing any above-normal precipitation.
Temperatures were cooler than normal over the Dakotas, with departures of 3-6 degrees below normal, while most of the rest of the region was 3-6 degrees above normal for the week. Abnormally dry conditions improved over southwest and southeast Kansas, while severe drought improved in northeast Wyoming and into western South Dakota. The extreme drought in northeast Nebraska was reassessed and removed as the convergence of the indicators at extreme drought levels no longer existed, even with some long-term signals still showing some dryness in the extreme levels.
The Midwest
Temperatures varied over the region, with the northern portions 4-6 degrees below normal and the southern portions 2-4 degrees above normal.
The wettest areas were in Missouri, southeast Iowa into Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and western Kentucky. Most of western Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota were drier than normal for the week. Improvements were made to the moderate drought in southwest and northeast Missouri, as well as to abnormally dry conditions. Southern to southeast Iowa also had abnormally dry conditions, and moderate drought improved. Abnormally dry conditions improved slightly over western and southern Illinois and into central Indiana. In Ohio, moderate drought improved in the central portions of the state, along with some contraction of abnormally dry conditions. Portions of northern Michigan and Minnesota had some moderate and severe drought improvement this week as the wetter pattern was reassessed to account for further improvements from past events.
The South
Temperatures were warmer than normal over most of the region, with departures of 5-10 degrees above normal for the week.
The wettest areas were in eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas and northern Mississippi, where most recorded 150-200% of normal precipitation for the week. Moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions improved over much of northern, western, and central Arkansas and far eastern Oklahoma. Moderate drought improved over extreme southeast Mississippi and in far eastern Tennessee. Portions of eastern Tennessee continued to be dry, and a new pocket of extreme drought was added. Exceptional drought was removed from south central Tennessee, and some improvements to moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions were made in central Tennessee. Moderate drought expanded in east Texas while severe drought contracted in north Texas and portions of east Texas. — UNL Drought Monitor
