Drought-affected South, Southwest set heat, dryness records — National #Drought Mitigation Center #monsoon2023

Left: At the end of the third quarter, 32.1% of the U.S. and Puerto Rico was in moderate drought or worse. Drought steadily increased from the beginning of July through the end of September. (Map from droughtmonitor.unl.edu ) Right: Changes in U.S. Drought Monitor categories between July 4 and Oct. 4, 2023, showed improvement in the Northeast, as well as parts of the Midwest, High Plains and West. Degradations occurred in the South, Southwest and along the U.S.-Canadian border. (Map from the U.S. Drought Monitor, droughtmonitor.unl.edu )

From email from the National Drought Mitigation Center (Curtis Riganti):

Drought developed and expanded in parts of the Desert Southwest during an unusually hot and dry North American Monsoon. Maricopa County, Arizona, recorded a statewide average of 1.27 inches of rain (the second-lowest county average total in 43 years of data, according to the County’s  Flood Control District ).

Widespread extreme and exceptional drought developed from central and east Texas through Louisiana and southern Mississippi, leading to impacts including wildfires in Louisiana. All five long-term climate stations in south-central and southwest Louisiana had their hottest August on record, and three of the five sites had their driest August on record, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) Lake Charles 1 .

Drought also developed or intensified along the U.S.-Canada border from Minnesota to Washington. Hawaii was another area of drought development, with areas of extreme drought on the leeward sides of Maui.

Drought and abnormal dryness from a generally drier-than-normal spring mostly improved in the Northeast.

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