The northern to central Great Plains along with the central Rockies remained either status quo this week or had a 1-category improvement. According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, 59 percent of Iowa topsoil moisture is rated as short to very short. Despite the improvements the past two weeks throughout much of the Midwest, long-term drought indicators continue to support varying levels of drought intensity including extreme drought (D3) in northeastern Iowa. Following last week’s broad improvements across the upper Mississippi Valley, no changes were made this week with much of this region receiving less than 0.5 inch of precipitation, liquid equivalent. 30 to 60-day SPI, soil moisture, and 28-day streamflows support the current drought depiction across parts of the lower Ohio and middle Mississippi Valleys. However, the lower Ohio Valley continues to miss out on late winter and early spring precipitation which led to an expansion of moderate drought (D1) for this region. Heavy precipitation (1 to 3 inches, locally more) prompted 1-category improvements throughout southern Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and eastern Iowa. Based on 30 to 60-day SPI, an expansion of abnormal dryness (D0) and moderate drought (D1) was warranted for parts of northwestern Oklahoma and western Texas. Enhanced winds, elevated wildfire risk, and blowing dust have been quite frequent the past few weeks due to low pressure systems forming to the lee of the Rockies. Farther to the west across the southern high Plains, short-term dryness is increasing. On April 1, locally heavy rainfall (more than 1.5 inch) resulted in small improvements to northeastern Oklahoma. However, there remains a lingering long-term drought across parts of western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. Major drought relief, associated with El Nino, occurred this past winter across the lower Mississippi Valley. The surrounding abnormal dryness (D0) was reduced slightly after a week of 1 to 2 inches of precipitation. Only a small area of moderate drought (D1) is designated for eastern North Carolina. Nearly all of the Southeast remains drought-free after the wet El Nino winter. However, there was a slight increase in the surrounding abnormal dryness (D0). The other D1 area in western NY was mostly dry this past week and no changes were necessary. No changes were made to the moderate drought (D1) for Nantucket since the heaviest precipitation (more than 1.5 inches) fell to the west. Following recent improvement across much of Puerto Rico, no changes were made this past week. Alaska remains drought-free, while leeward sides of Hawaii had a broad 1-category degradation. 7-day (March 26 to April 1) temperatures averaged below (above)-normal across the western and north-central (eastern) CONUS. ![]() Below-normal snowpack supported an increase in D1 across the northern Cascades of Washington. March was relatively wet across Arizona where additional improvements were warranted before a drier time of year sets in later this spring. Increasing short-term dryness and periods of enhanced winds led to expansion of abnormal dryness (D0) and moderate drought (D1) in southwestern Kansas, northwestern Oklahoma, and western Texas. However, moderate drought (D1) was introduced to the lower Ohio Valley which has missed out on precipitation during the late winter and early spring. ![]() A swath of 1 to 3 inches of precipitation supported improvements extending from parts of the Midwest to southeastern Kansa and northeastern Oklahoma. A pair of low pressure systems and trailing cold fronts tracked across the east-central contiguous U.S. An active early springtime pattern continued through late March and into the beginning of April.
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