Drought Monitor 2/28/17 - Slow, Steady Growth In Drought E-W Across Nation's Midsection

[hatrack]

The South

An inch to 2 inches of rain fell across parts of southern Arkansas and northeast Louisiana this week, but generally less than a tenth of an inch to no precipitation occurred across most of the rest of the South. D0 was shaved in southwest Oklahoma to reflect heavy precipitation from previous weeks which wasn’t accounted for last week. But expansion of D0-D2 occurred across parts of Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas, while D0 expanded across the northern half of Louisiana into adjacent southwest Mississippi. February 27 USDA reports indicated that topsoil moisture was short or very short (dry to very dry) across 42% of Oklahoma and 33% of Texas, and subsoil moisture was short or very short across 43% of Oklahoma and 30% of Texas. Pasture and rangeland were in poor to very poor condition across 37% of Oklahoma and 20% of Texas, while some crops were suffering at this early stage. In Oklahoma, 21% of the canola, 27% of the oats, and 15% of the winter wheat were in poor to very poor condition.

Midwest

With precipitation for the week below normal by the Tuesday morning cutoff, D0 expanded across the lower Ohio Valley to southwest Ohio and across parts of Kentucky to reflect dry conditions at the 7- to 120-day time scales. D0-D1 expanded across Missouri. February 27 USDA reports indicated that 46% of the subsoil and 51% of the topsoil in Missouri, and 27% of the subsoil and 28% of the topsoil in Illinois, were short or very short of moisture.

Central To Northern Plains

Bands of precipitation fell across the Central to Northern Plains. Much of Kansas and parts of the Dakotas received a tenth of an inch or less of precipitation, while a snowstorm dropped 0.3-1.0 inch of precipitation across parts of Nebraska and southwest South Dakota. D1 expanded across eastern Kansas, while D0-D1 contracted in northwest Nebraska and western South Dakota. According to February 27 USDA reports, 56% of the subsoil and 55% of the topsoil in Kansas, and 30% of the subsoil and 25% of the topsoil in Nebraska, were short to very short of moisture, while 21% of the winter wheat in Kansas was in poor to very poor condition.

EDIT

http://www.democraticunderground.com/index.php

[greymattermom]

1. That area of the Smokies had bad fires already

In November, 2016. It looks like they didn't recover over the winter.
http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/tennessee/2016/12/04/overnight-rain-brings-relief-smoky-mountain-wildfire-efforts/94951992/

[hatrack]

2. Yeah, it stayed dry up there pretty much through the winter

Oh, sorry, "winter".