26 June 2007 Drought Monitor - UNL

[hatrack]

National Drought Summary -- June 26, 2007

The discussion in the Looking Ahead section is simply a description of what the official national guidance from the National Weather Service (NWS) National Centers for Environmental Prediction is depicting for current areas of dryness and drought. The NWS forecast products utilized include the HPC 5-day QPF and 5-day Mean Temperature progs, the 6-10 Day Outlooks of Temperature and Precipitation Probability, and the 8-14 Day Outlooks of Temperature and Precipitation Probability, valid as of late Wednesday afternoon of the USDM release week. The NWS forecast web page used for this section is: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/forecasts/.

The West and High Plains: Generally dry weather resulted in little change in the drought pattern across the region, although increasing drought impacts resulted in expansion of D3 drought in western Arizona. D3 (extreme) drought continued into southern California, where Los Angeles remained on track to record the driest 12-month July-June period since records began in 1877. Cumulative rainfall since July 1, 2006, totaled just 3.21 inches in downtown L.A., nearly a foot below normal. Windy, dry weather contributed to the wildfire south of Lake Tahoe in California that destroyed 251 structures. Temperatures averaging 2-8°F above normal for the interior West this past week aggravated dry conditions. Up to 1 to 2 inches of rain in western Oklahoma and adjacent Kansas removed much of the D0 area introduced last week in that area. Hot, dry weather led to some expansion eastward of D0 in southwestern South Dakota.

The Western Great Lakes: Warm, dry weather led to expansion of D0 into southern Minnesota and extreme northwestern Iowa, while D1 drought extended from northern Wisconsin into east-central Minnesota. D0 dryness expanded eastward across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Southern and Eastern United States: Showers brought spotty improvement to the southern drought, with widespread rains on June 19 bringing at least short-term relief to many parts of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and the Tennessee Valley. Heavy, flooding rains of 6 to 11 inches hit northwest Mississippi on June 18, resulting in pullback of the D2 and D3 area there. Elsewhere, weekly totals of 1-3 inches benefited much of the extreme drought area, but rainfall amounts were generally not enough to lift drought categories, except in southern Alabama, where D3 improved to D2. In Georgia, despite getting some welcomed rains this period, Atlanta is experiencing its second-driest year on record, with year-to-date totals 13 inches below normal. In Alabama, the drought has been having major impacts on farming. USDA reported that both the soybean and corn crops were rated at 88 percent poor to very poor. To the north, heavy rains ranging up to 4 inches and higher eliminated dryness in central Illinois and adjacent Indiana and removed D1 drought in western Indiana. In contrast, dry weather led to some expansion of D0 in southern Michigan and parts of northeastern Illinois. Dry weather also brought D0 dryness to most of Virginia and D1 drought across northern West Virginia into western Maryland and extreme northern Virginia. D0 dryness spread into northeastern Pennsylvania, where wells have been running low.

Puerto Rico: D0H conditions persisted as rainfall totals were light to moderate on the lingering area of hydrologic dryness in southeastern Puerto Rico.

Alaska: Above-normal temperatures and generally light rainfall led to some eastward migration of the D0 area. D0 expanded to the western Kenai Peninsula, where the Caribou Hills fire had scorched 55,000 acres and burned 197 structures.

Hawaii: Some heavy showers led to retreat of the D1 in the windward area of The Big Island.

Looking Ahead: Weather that could have an impact on dry areas in the next 2 weeks: 1) a cold front tracking eastward and southward during June 28 to July 2 should bring over an inch of rain to many locations in the Ohio Valley and mid and south Atlantic states, but less than 1 inch in most of the D4 drought area in the South; 2) temperatures should remain above normal with little or no rain across the West in the next 2 weeks; 3) rainfall is forecast to be normal to above normal along the Gulf Coast on the 6-10 day and 8-14 day forecasts but below normal over the Tennessee Valley and South Atlantic Coast during days 6-10.

END

http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

[marmar]

1. I'm getting parched just reading it.....

:scared:

[NMDemDist2]

2. and yet here in Southern New Mexico and West/North Texas we are

*way way* above normal. the desert around here is green green green as far as you can see