A stark divide emerged across the United States during the week ending April 21, with exceptional drought expanding in the Southeast while a narrow band from south Texas to southern Wisconsin received above-normal precipitation, according to this week’s U.S Drought Monitor. The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Map courtesy of NDMC.
Exceptional drought, the most severe category, expanded in southern Georgia and northern Florida as agricultural impacts became more widespread. The entire state of Alabama now experiences some level of drought, with extreme drought covering much of the south. Most of the state saw a full category of degradation during the week.
Mississippi and Tennessee joined the growing list of states experiencing 100% drought coverage. Mississippi saw nearly the entire state degrade by one category, while severe and extreme drought expanded across western Tennessee.
The Southeast remained very dry, with only parts of northern Alabama, western Virginia and North Carolina recording precipitation. Temperatures ran near to slightly above normal in southern areas and 5 degrees or more above normal in northern areas.
Severe drought intensified in southeastern Pennsylvania and eastern Maryland as dry conditions persisted. Extreme drought developed along Virginia’s southern border with North Carolina, while West Virginia experienced widespread degradation with nearly the entire state now in moderate to severe drought.
A band of above-normal precipitation extending from south Texas into eastern Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan and southern Wisconsin brought relief to some areas. Many locations in this swath received greater than 150% of normal precipitation, with some exceeding 400% for the week.
Where rainfall was sufficient in Texas and Oklahoma, drought conditions improved or were removed. Southern Iowa, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois also saw improvements due to recent rainfall, easing moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions.
However, the High Plains region remained mostly dry, leading to widespread degradation. Extreme drought expanded across central and western Nebraska and into northwest Kansas. New extreme drought developed in far southwest Kansas and southern South Dakota.
Kentucky experienced further degradation, with moderate and severe drought expanding across western and central areas. The period from November 2025 through March 2026 ranks as the fifth-driest five-month period on record for Kentucky’s western climatic division.
In the West, drought conditions worsened across much of Nevada, with expansion of abnormal dryness to severe drought. Severe drought expanded into northwest Utah, while moderate to severe drought increased in western and southern Arizona. Extreme drought was introduced in southwestern Montana.
Northern portions of the Northeast received rain, with areas from western New York into Maine recording 200% or more of normal precipitation. This led to improvements in abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions across northern Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Temperatures were near normal to slightly below normal across the West, while portions of the central Plains, Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic experienced temperatures 5–10 degrees above normal.
