Agricultural News
Extreme Drought Worsens in the Panhandle and In the Southwest Portion of the State
Thu, 31 Mar 2022 16:10:06 CDT
Throughout last week fast-moving storms impacted the Lower 48. Heavy rain fell across parts of the Midwest and South, leading to broad areas of drought improvement in these regions. Parts of the West saw much-needed rainfall. In most cases, these amounts were not enough to bring relief to the region's relentless long-term drought conditions. Pockets of dryness also continued across the northern High Plains, South, and Southeast leading to drought expansion.
This week the South saw drought worsen across west and south Texas and the Oklahoma Panhandle. Above-normal temperatures combined with below-normal precipitation and high winds exacerbated conditions. Drought indicators supporting the degradations include increasing precipitation deficits, dry surface and root zone soil moisture and low stream flow. State drought teams noted reports of blowing dust and crop failures in the area. Drought also expanded across southern Louisiana. This area has been in severe drought (D2) since March without any relief in weeks. One-category improvements were made to drought conditions across east Texas, southern Arkansas, north and central Louisiana and Mississippi in areas where the heaviest rain (3 inches or more) fell and where warranted by short-term precipitation indicators, streamflow, soil moisture and other measures.
This week 8.32% of the state is in the Exceptional Drought Category compared to 7.81% last week. 33.90% is in the Extreme drought category exactly the same amount as last week. Severe drought covers 63.34% of the state compared to 64.10% last week. 76.49% is in Moderate drought compared to 77.01% last week. 86.24% is still in the abnormally dry category compared to 87.06% last week and 13.76% of the state currently has no drought, compared to 12.94% last week.
To view the 6 - 10 Day Precipitation Outlook, click here.
To view the 6 - 10 Day Temperature Outlook, click here.
To view the Monthly Drought Outlook map, click here.
Weather forecast for the next 10 days includes warmer temperatures today, clear skies tomorrow and a slight chance of rain. Next week will be mostly sunny with a few rain chances and temps in the mid 60's..
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