Agricultural News
Latest U.S. Drought Monitor Shows Some Improvement in Many Areas of The Country, Except For The Southwest
Thu, 13 May 2021 15:22:18 CDT
Adequate rainfall across much of the western and northwestern parts of the U.S. during the past week reduced drought conditions according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map.
Unfortunately, the rainfall amounts were not enough to significantly ease drought concerns for California where snowpack runoff is forecast to be below normal and storage levels at their two largest reservoirs are below 50 percent.
It gets even worse in the southwest as Lake Powell is at 35 percent and Lake Meade is at 38 percent and the entire Lower Colorado system is just 43 percent.
In the High Plains, portions of eastern Colorado and Wyoming saw improvements to drought conditions from recent rain events.
To view the U.S. Drought map, click here.
In Oklahoma, the updated drought map shows about a 7 percent increase in the overall drought coverage during the past week as 50.82 percent of the drought is drought free compared to 57.13 percent last week.
Just a short three months ago, 72.70 percent of Oklahoma was drought free.
To view the Oklahoma drought map, click here.
Looking ahead to next week, a very wet and cool period is in store for Oklahoma and much of the High Plains.
To view the 6-10-day temperature outlook, click here.
To view the 6-10-day precipitation outlook, click here.
A dry spring continues to be forecast by NOAA in their 3-month (May-June-July) precipitation outlook. To view this outlook, click here.
The U.S. Drought Monitor Map is developed through a partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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