Click here to go to the US Drought Monitor website. Here’s an excerpt:
Summary
Hurricane Matthew approached the east coast of Florida as a category 4 hurricane, having many bracing for the impact during this last week. The eye of the storm stayed offshore for the most part, but did bring with it intense rain and associated flooding along with wind damage. Some reports of 14+ inches of rain were noted in South Carolina and North Carolina, but these rains did not impact any of the drought regions of the Southeast. The storm pushed rain up the east coast and into southern New England. Significant rain also fell with a slow-moving storm system that impacted much of southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma, but it stalled out as it approached the Ozarks. The Pacific Northwest continues to stay active with multiple storms coming ashore and bringing rain along the coastal areas of Washington and Oregon and into the northern Rocky Mountains. Most of the rest of the United States was dry this week and the significant dryness over the Southeast during the last several months is starting to rapidly deteriorate conditions there with widespread impacts…High Plains
Temperatures were cooler than normal over most of the region this week with portions of North Dakota 6-9 degrees below normal. Areas of western and eastern Nebraska, along with eastern Kansas, were wetter than normal, with portions of southeast Kansas recording over 5 inches of rain. Drought is not much of an issue in the region and the only change this week was some removal of abnormally dry conditions over western Nebraska…West
Cooler than normal temperatures were experienced over much of the West this week as departures of 3-6 degrees below normal were common. Most areas were dry outside of the Pacific Northwest and into the northern Rocky Mountains, where several storms impacted the region. Improvements to the abnormally dry conditions were made over western Washington and western Wyoming this week and a full category improvement was made to the drought areas of Montana…Looking Ahead
Over the next 5-7 days, the storm pattern will continue to impact the Pacific Northwest, with significant rain anticipated along the coastal region from northern California to Washington. These storms will also impact the interior Northwest into central Montana and western Wyoming, bringing widespread precipitation. The Midwest and Great Lakes regions will also see precipitation as well as portions of the southern Plains. The Southeast looks to remain dry into the Mid-Atlantic. Temperatures are anticipated to be warmer than normal over much of the country, with only the areas of the Pacific Northwest being cooler than normal due to the anticipated precipitation. Departures will range from 12-15 degrees above normal for daily high temperatures over the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles to 9-12 degrees below normal over northern California.The 6-10 day outlooks show that the warm October is anticipated to continue. Almost the entire country (outside of the Great Basin and Central Rocky Mountain regions) has a higher probability of warmer than normal temperatures, with the highest likelihood over the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Higher probabilities of above-normal precipitation exist for the Pacific Northwest and interior Northwest, High Plains, Midwest, Northeast and the western side of the Mississippi River Valley. Below-normal precipitation is anticipated over much of the Southeast and into Florida.