Nationwide
Heavy precipitation (over 3 inches) was observed last week over many of the higher elevations and coastal areas from northern California to the Canadian Border.
Farther east, similar amounts doused numerous locations from Oklahoma southward to central Texas, a few areas across the lower Mississippi Valley, portions of the southern Appalachians, parts of the central Gulf Coast, the east-central Florida Peninsula, and some areas just downwind of Lake Erie. Between 5 and 10 inches of precipitation fell in a few areas across the coastal and higher-elevation regions of Washington and Oregon, north-central and east-central Oklahoma, northeastern Texas, south-central Mississippi and east-central Florida. Moderate to heavy precipitation (between 1 and 3 inches with isolated higher amounts) was reported across the rest of the Pacific Northwest, parts of the higher elevations in the northern Intermountain West, part of the northern Great Plains, most of central and western Michigan and many areas from the central Carolinas to the central Great Plains, plus much of northern and central Texas, the southern Lower Mississippi Valley, and a few patches across northwestern and central Florida. Other locations across the Conterminous U.S. (“Lower-48”) received only a few tenths of an inch at best.
This resulted in significant areas of improvement in the Pacific Northwest, northern Intermountain West, the Great Plains from eastern Kansas through central Texas, the interior Deep South, the Ohio Valley, the eastern Great Lakes, the Carolinas, the southern Appalachians, and a few patches in New England. In some of the drier areas, dryness and drought conditions deteriorated in a few parts of the central and northern High Plains, the Texas Panhandle, Deep South and Coastal Texas, southern Alabama and Georgia, and small areas in the mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast from New York to coastal Maine.
The West
Following substantial changes across the West region last week, conditions generally persisted in all but the northern tier, with no changes relative to last week in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and most of California.
Across the northern tier of the West region, heavy precipitation led to improvements in a few areas, mostly in northern California, Oregon, and Washington, from the Cascades to the Pacific Coast. Many locations in the higher elevations of Washington and near the Washington and northern Oregon coastlines measured over 3 inches of precipitation, with scattered amounts of 4 inches or more recorded, particularly in northwestern and north-central Washington. Farther east, recent precipitation led to some improvement across western Montana and northern Idaho, while, to the east, recent deficient precipitation totals led to deterioration across north-central Montana.
The High Plains
The High Plains is currently the least affected region by dryness and drought. Only 37.2% of the region is affected by dryness (D0) or drought (D1-D4).
Colorado and Wyoming are the most drought-impacted states, with almost 55% of the two states combined under D0 conditions or worse, and about one-third experiencing some degree of drought (D1-D4), primarily in the higher elevations. In the Great Plains states, there is no drought in North Dakota, and D0 covers less than 3 % of the state. Dry conditions are a little more common farther south, with D0 or worse covering 39% of South Dakota, 35% of Nebraska, and 25% of Kansas. In all three states, drought (D1 or worse) coverage is less than 13%. Last week, moderate to locally heavy rain brought areas of improvement to eastern Kansas and far northwestern Wyoming, while patches of deterioration appeared in eastern South Dakota and small parts of south-central Colorado and far northeastern Kansas.
The South
Heavy rains in many regions led to broad areas of improvement across Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
Some areas of deterioration were observed in areas that missed the heavy rains, specifically southern and coastal Texas, part of the Texas Panhandle, and a few patches of the Red River (South) Valley. Several inches of rain resulted in a few swaths of 2-category improvement across central and east-central Texas as well as central Oklahoma, where upwards of 4-8 inches of precipitation were observed. Overall, coverage of dryness and drought decreased from 80.6% to 68.6% of the region, while drought coverage (D1 or worse) decreased from 37.1% to 27.6%. D3-D4 extent inched down slightly from 10.7% to 9.6%. But despite the wet week, 90-day rainfall amounts ranged from 3-6 inches below normal across much of the Red River (South) Valley, and from 4 to locally over 10 inches from central Texas eastward along and near the Gulf Coast. — UNL Drought Monitor
