Drought Monitor 8/8 Update - From Florida To Idaho, California To Michigan

Now, if somebody would just post the damned image - or tell me how to do it!

Overview: Abnormal dryness and all drought intensities remained unusually expansive for the nation as a whole, leading to a variety of impacts. More than 5.9 million acres have been scorched by wildfires so far this year, which is 70 percent more than the average for the same period during the previous 10 years, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicated that between 28 and 37 percent of the peanut, spring wheat, sorghum, and cotton crops were in poor or very poor condition nationally, compared to between 5 and 17 percent of the same crops at this time last year. Fully half of the nation’s pastures and rangelands were in poor or very poor condition, a proportion exceeded only once since weekly growing season records were first gathered in May 1995. Some areas reported a large proportion of their corn and/or soybean crops in poor or very poor condition, but on a national scale, the proportion was similar to this time last year.

The Southeast and Gulf Coast: Pockets of heavy precipitation brought improvement to a few areas, but heavy rainfall was spotty at best in most of the region, thus drought persistence or deterioration was much more common. Several inches of rain led to improvements to D1 or D2 in parts of westernmost Florida, west-central Alabama, upper southern Mississippi, and southeastern Louisiana, and a few small areas scattered across Georgia. Meanwhile, D0 conditions expanded northward into southwest Virginia and eastern Kentucky, and southeastward into east-central Florida. Increasing moisture deficits led to the introduction of D1 in part of the northern Florida Peninsula, and to the northward expansion of D1 and D2 in the upper South and portions of eastern Kentucky. Daily high temperatures averaging 4°F or more above normal enhanced surface moisture declines in areas north of the Gulf Coast region, and in conjunction with drier weather during the past 30 to 90 days relative to their surroundings, this led to the introduction of D3 conditions in southeastern Arkansas and northwestern Mississippi.

The Midwest: Moderate to heavy rains fell on many areas from the western Great Lakes region and southern Minnesota southward through eastern Nebraska, parts of Iowa, northern Missouri, and northeastern Kansas, with the largest amounts (4.0 to 6.5 inches) dousing central Wisconsin, southwestern Minnesota, northwestern Iowa, central and east-central Nebraska, and northwestern Missouri. As a result, dryness was eliminated in central Wisconsin and southern Minnesota, and improvements to D0 or D1 were introduced in most of the other wet areas. Farther south, only light precipitation fell at best across central and southern Missouri and western Illinois, prompting the eastward expansion of D0 to D2 conditions in these areas. As was the case farther east, daily high temperatures averaging 4°F or more above normal enhanced surface moisture declines in these regions.

The Plains and Rockies: More excessive rains drenched the El Paso, TX, area and adjacent sections of far western Texas and southern New Mexico, ending residual dryness near El Paso and allowing improvement to D0 or D1 in nearby areas. During the 7-day period through August 5, 2006, El Paso recorded almost 6 inches of rain, which is nearly two-thirds of their annual normal. Elsewhere, scattered moderate to heavy rains (1 to locally 4 inches) fell on the northern Black Hills and adjacent northeasternmost Wyoming, the southern half of the High Plains, southern Kansas, parts of north-central and east-central Oklahoma, portions of western Arkansas, and scattered to isolated locations in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, central Oklahoma, central Arkansas, and southeastern Texas. Rainfall was negligible to non-existent elsewhere. Steadily increasing moisture shortages led to a broad expansion of D2 conditions through much of central and eastern Montana, North Dakota, northeastern South Dakota, and west-central Minnesota while D3 conditions expanded (albeit less impressively) into north-central Wyoming, southwestern North Dakota, northern Nebraska and adjacent South Dakota, and part of central Texas. Finally, drought conditions declined to the worst classification, D4, in parts of southwestern South Dakota, southern Oklahoma, and north-central Texas.

The Southwest: Monsoonal showers and thundershowers again dumped heavy rain (more than 1 inch) on much of New Mexico and, to a lesser extent, eastern Arizona and the central and western sections of Colorado. Totals reached 3.0 to 6.5 inches in parts of interior northwestern New Mexico and at isolated sites in east-central and southeastern Arizona. As a result, D4 was eliminated in southern Arizona, and improvements to D0, D1, or D2 were introduced in portions of eastern Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Colorado. In contrast, recent heat and dryness and enhanced wildfire danger led to the expansion of D0 conditions through much of southeastern Idaho.

Alaska: Scattered rainfall reports of 1 to 3 inches led to the elimination of D0 conditions in parts of south-central Alaska, but lesser amounts in other parts of the D0 regions kept last week’s conditions unchanged.

Hawaii: Between 4 and 6 inches of rain soaked parts of central and eastern Kauai, and isolated totals of 1 to 3 inches were reported at a few other sites in the D0 and D1 regions. As a result, D0 was pulled out of central and northeastern Kauai, but amounts elsewhere were not large enough to engender any improvement.

Looking Ahead: The next few days (through August 14, 2006) are expected to feature fairly heavy rain (1 to 3 inches) in a band from central Kansas southeastward through Georgia and much of South Carolina, across central Arizona and adjacent west-central New Mexico, and at isolated sites in southern Colorado, southwestern Minnesota, and northeastern Iowa. Most other areas of dryness and drought should receive light to moderate precipitation, except for little or none through most of Texas, southern Oklahoma, southwestern Arkansas, northwestern Louisiana, much of the northern High Plains and Rockies, and southeastern Idaho. Temperatures during the period are expected to average near to somewhat above normal in all areas currently affected by dryness and drought. For the ensuing 5 days (August 15 – 19, 2006), the odds favor above-normal precipitation from northeastern Montana eastward through northern Minnesota, and in a band covering New Mexico, the southeastern half of Colorado, Kansas, and adjacent sections of Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arizona. Meanwhile, below-normal precipitation is forecast for Alaska, the Carolinas, the upper South, southern Missouri, and much of Arkansas. Temperatures are expected to average above normal during this period from the Great Plains eastward while below-normal readings are forecast for New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and eastern Arizona.

EDIT/END

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

On Edit:
Removed image now that hatrack knows how to post same

:hi: hatrack! ;loveya:

Gee, that was easy!

:toast:

Glad to help you out, hatrack :hi: