The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report shows a continued overall decrease in drought coverage and intensity across much of the country, with significant improvements in some regions and worsening conditions in others.
Heavy rainfall in central and southern Texas prompted a one-category improvement for the second consecutive week. However, long-term monitoring wells in Bexar and Medina Counties remain near or at all-time lows, and many 28-day average streamflows in south-central Texas are below the 5th percentile.
The Desert Southwest experienced an unusually wet start to June, with a low-pressure system interacting with moisture from Tropical Storm Alvin in the East Pacific. This resulted in locally heavy rainfall and a one-category improvement in parts of Arizona.
In contrast, the Midwest saw expanding drought conditions. Parts of Iowa, northern Illinois, northern Missouri, northern Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan experienced a one-category degradation due to mostly dry conditions and increasing precipitation deficits.
"The largest 60-day precipitation deficits, ending on June 2, are 4 to 5 inches across northern Illinois, western to southern Iowa, and northern Missouri," the report stated.
The Northeast has seen significant improvement, with drought ending for nearly all of the region following May precipitation averaging more than 200 percent of normal. However, moderate long-term drought persists in northern Maryland due to continued low groundwater levels.
In the Southeast, the rainy season is well underway in Florida, leading to improvements across the central to southern Florida Peninsula. However, extreme drought conditions remain in parts of southwestern Florida and the Everglades.
Looking ahead, the 6-10 day outlook from the Climate Prediction Center favors above-normal precipitation for the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, Lower Mississippi Valley, and Southeast, while below-normal precipitation is expected for the eastern Corn Belt.
As drought conditions continue to evolve, water resource managers and agricultural stakeholders will need to closely monitor these changes and adjust their strategies accordingly.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced jointly by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
