Click on a thumbnail graphic to view a gallery of drought data from the US Drought Monitor. From the website:
Summary
It was a fairly dry week over much of the United States with the majority of the country seeing little to no precipitation. The exceptions were in south Texas, the Southeast, and along the Pacific coast. At the end of the current U.S. Drought Monitor period and the beginning of the next, the first of several storms started sweeping across the West Coast and into the Southwest. The resulting precipitation will be analyzed for potential improvements to the region next week. Temperatures remained well above normal for the upper Midwest and for most areas east of the Mississippi River. Departures of 5-10 degrees above normal were common from the Mid-Atlantic into the Southeast as well as in eastern North Dakota, northern Minnesota, and northern Wisconsin. Below-normal temperatures were common for most areas west of the Missouri River. Portions of the northern Rocky Mountains were 15-20 degrees below normal in the last week…
High Plains and South
Dry conditions prevailed over much of the High Plains and the South region, with southern Texas the only area showing any changes for the week. After a very wet end to the year, drought is not a concern over much of the Plains and the South-Central states. Most of the abnormally dry conditions in south Texas were removed this week, with only a few small areas of dryness remaining…
West
The weather pattern remains active over the West and the temperatures are very seasonal, cooler than the last two winters. There has been good snow accumulation in the upper elevations and rain in the lower elevations. For this week, improvements were made in eastern Washington and Oregon, where most areas to the east of Cascade Mountains had a full-category reduction in drought intensity, with moderate to severe drought lingering. Northern Idaho saw an improvement to the severe drought (D2) conditions, leaving moderate drought. Severe drought conditions also improved in southern Idaho this week. In northeast Nevada and northwest Utah, abnormally dry conditions improved slightly, and in southern Utah, moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions improved slightly. In the Four Corners region in northwest New Mexico, abnormally dry conditions improved. But prolonged dryness led to expansion of drought in northern Wyoming and southeast Montana. This area has not been as fortunate and dryness has lingered since autumn, so D0 and D1 expanded this week, pushing moderate drought into southeast Montana.
The analysis of California is ongoing, with the good start to the current water year bringing optimism to the region. The deficits over the last three years are significant enough that potential improvements are going to be slow to develop. The systems bringing precipitation to the region at the end of this current United States Drought Monitor period will be assessed next week…
Looking Ahead
Over the next 5-7 days, the active pattern will continue along the West Coast with several storms projected to bring precipitation from southern Oregon into southern California, Arizona and the Four Corners region. As these storms track eastward, much of the Midwest and East Coast will have the opportunity for ample precipitation as well. Cooler-than-normal temperatures over the western half of the country will provide a good opportunity for snow accumulation, especially at the higher altitudes. The East will see high temperatures of 8-10 degrees above normal.
The 6-10 day outlooks show that the odds for temperatures to be cooler than normal are greatest over the upper Midwest and Great Lakes regions as well as over much of the eastern United States, High Plains, and Four Corners regions. The greatest odds of warmer than normal temperatures is over the West Coast as well as much of Alaska. The best odds of above normal precipitation includes the west coast, Gulf Coast into Florida, and the Great Lakes regions. For much of the central Rocky Mountains, Midwest and into the Mid-Atlantic, there are above normal chances of below normal precipitation.