Agricultural News
Drought Footprint in Oklahoma Stands at Nine Percent- Southwest and Tip of the Panhandle Remain Dry
Thu, 23 Jan 2020 08:23:31 CST
Drought coverage in Oklahoma continues to shrink with some unusual January rains helping in parts of southwestern Oklahoma. Total drought coverage in the state has slipped under ten percent- now at 9.04% in the report released on Thursday morning, January 23, 2020.
With the Abnormally Dry stats added in- 19.5% of Oklahoma remains Abnormally Dry or in Drought- that's down from 28.23% a week ago and down from 44% three months ago(October 22nd).
Most of Cimarron County at the end of the Panhandle remains in Severe Drought(D2) which accounts for the 2.52% of the state in the D2 rating. There has been no D3 or D4 drought in the state over the past year.
Additional rains in southwestern Oklahoma have added to the moisture profile this week- and could further reduce drought ratings in next week's report.
According to the National Drought Monitor commentary, the "ands of 2+ inch precipitation occurred across parts of Texas into central Oklahoma, and from eastern Texas into Mississippi, with some reports exceeding 5 inches. Half an inch or more of precipitation surrounded these areas across the region. But some areas had less than half an inch, including parts of western, southern, and east-central Texas, western Oklahoma, southeast Louisiana, and parts of Arkansas. For the dry areas, this week's subnormal precipitation added to deficits stretching back 6 months or more. For the areas that were wet this week, the precipitation helped with short-term deficits, but longer-term deficits remained and were especially still severe at the 6-month time frame. The D2 in southwest Oklahoma was eliminated and its surrounding D0-D1 contracted. D0-D3 was contracted in the wet areas of Texas, but D0-D2 expanded in the dry areas."
Click here for the national Drought Monitor map and commentary.
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