Agricultural News
Moderate and Severe Drought in Oklahoma Both Jump Over 30 Percentage Points Since Last Week
Thu, 21 Jul 2022 09:59:02 CDT
According to the latest drought monitor, in Oklahoma, exceptional drought remains at zero, unchanged from last week.
Extreme drought or worse this week is at 6.8 percent, up 4 percentage points from last week’s 2.8 percent.
Severe drought or worse has increased by 31 percentage points since last week and is now at 57.5 percent (last week was 33.4 percent).
Moderate drought or worse has risen significantly since last week and is now at 99.6 percent (last week was 62.7 percent.)
Abnormally dry or worse conditions in Oklahoma remain at 100 percent, unchanged from last week.
According to the Oklahoma Mesonetwork, Oklahoma is experiencing the highest levels of drought since February 20, 2018.
The 6-10 day precipitation outlook map shows the majority of Oklahoma is leaning above a 30-40 percent chance of rain, with central part of the state leaning towards a 50 percent chance above normal.
To view the Oklahoma Drought Map, click here.
According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report, most of the eastern third of the U.S. recorded precipitation during the last week, with only a few pockets that missed out. Portions of the Midwest and into the Southeast had some amounts over 3 inches for the week and even widespread 5+ inch amounts in the coastal areas of Florida, and some rain at the end of the period allowed for much of New England to stay status quo for the week and even see a few improvements. The areas with the most rain also had the coolest temperatures, with much of the Midwest and Southeast cooler than normal for the week with departures of 2-4 degrees below normal. Warmer-than-normal temperatures dominated the western half of the country with areas from Montana to Texas recording temperatures that were 6-8 degrees above normal. The coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest were cooler than normal while the Great Basin was warmer than normal with departures of 6-8 degrees above normal. With the dryness and heat, the flash drought that has been developing in the central to southern Plains developed even more this week with the wet conditions of May and June quickly being forgotten.
In the Southern Plains, as with areas of the central Plains, the South had widespread hot and dry conditions for the week. Areas of northeast Arkansas, western Louisiana and northern Mississippi had the most rain, with pockets of rain throughout central and southern Texas. Temperatures were warmer than normal with departures of 4-6 degrees above normal over most of northern Texas and Oklahoma. As both long-term and short-term dryness have impacted this area, extreme and exceptional drought expanded over Oklahoma and Texas while flash drought development has impacted much of eastern Oklahoma into Arkansas. Widespread degradation took place this week with a full category degradation over much of Oklahoma, Arkansas and into northern Texas. Further degradation took place over portions of east Texas with just small areas of improvement over far west Texas, the western Panhandle and into southwest Texas.
In the High Plains, a warm and mainly dry week dominated the region. Temperatures were warmest in eastern Montana and from western North Dakota to western Kansas, where departures were 6-8 degrees above normal. There were some pockets of very intense rains in Nebraska, North Dakota and eastern Colorado, but widespread rains were minimal. South Dakota had expansion of abnormally dry and moderate drought over much of the southern tier of the state while eastern Kansas had widespread introduction of abnormally dry conditions and moderate drought expansion. Severe and extreme drought expanded over much of western Kansas while severe drought expanded over north-central Nebraska and in the panhandle. Severe drought also expanded on the plains of eastern Colorado and extreme southeast Wyoming. There was a slight improvement in extreme drought in northeast Nebraska where some intense rains fell in the middle of the previous extreme drought area.
In the West, temperatures were warmer than normal over much of Montana and into northern Nevada, southern Idaho, and eastern Wyoming with departures of 6-8 degrees above normal. Temperatures were cooler than normal by 1-2 degrees over the coastal regions of Washington and Oregon. Highly variable and scattered monsoonal moisture continues to impact the region, with some areas with above-normal precipitation for the week in Nevada, Arizona, and southern California as well as into areas of southern Colorado and Utah. Only minimal changes were made this week as the full impact of the recent precipitation is not fully known yet, but improvements are possible depending on how the rest of the monsoon season continues.
To view the contiguous U.S. drought map, click here.
Looking ahead, 0ver the next 5-7 days, it is anticipated that the monsoonal moisture will continue to bring rains throughout the Four Corners region. Active weather over the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Southeast will again bring widespread precipitation. Precipitation in the central Plains and northern Rocky Mountains will be minimal and dry conditions will continue to dominate the West as well as much of the southern Plains. Temperatures during this period will be well above normal over the western half of the U.S. with temperatures 6-9 degrees above normal while cooler-than-normal temperatures will be common over the eastern half with departures of 1-3 degrees below normal.
The 6-10-day outlooks show that the vast majority of the country has above-normal chances of recording temperatures that will be warmer than normal. The greatest probability of above-normal temperatures will be over the central to southern Plains. Alaska has above-normal chances of having cooler-than-normal temperatures during this time. The best chance of above-normal precipitation is over the Southwest and Southeast while much of the rest of the country will likely have below-normal precipitation, with the greatest chances in the Pacific Northwest and southern Plains.
To view the 6 - 10 Day Precipitation Outlook map, click here.
To view the 6 - 10 Day Temperature Outlook map, click here.
To view the Monthly Drought Outlook map, click here.
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