Click on a thumbnail graphic to view a gallery of drought data from the US Drought Monitor website.

Click the link to go to the US Drought Monitor website. Here’s an excerpt:

This Week’s Drought Summary

Precipitation fell across much of the U.S. over the past week, while heavier amounts were observed over parts of the Pacific Northwest and Southwest. Portions of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Washington reported rainfall totals between 3 to 5 inches above normal, while precipitation totals were below normal across much of the eastern U.S. Warmer-than-normal temperatures were observed across much of the U.S. this week. Temperature departures ranging between 6 to 15 degrees F above normal were observed from the northern Rockies to northern portions of the Midwest. Cooler-than-normal temperatures were observed from eastern portions of Texas to the Mid-Atlantic, and in parts of the Great Bains and Southwest. The Southeast observed temperatures between 3 to 9 degrees F below normal this week..

High Plains

Warm temperature dominated the High Plains this week with departures ranging up to 12 degrees F above normal, especially in the northern portions of the region. Precipitation fell across much of the region this week, but amounts were not large enough to prevent further degradations across much of the region. Extreme drought was introduced in northeast Nebraska, while extreme drought was expanded in western South Dakota, eastern Wyoming, and northwestern Nebraska. Severe and moderate drought were expanded in portions of Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas, while severe drought was expanded in southern Wyoming. Abnormal dryness was expanded in parts of North Dakota. The heaviest rains fell across Colorado, reporting rainfall totals up to 600% of normal, resulting in improvements of moderate to severe drought and abnormal dryness in western and southern portions of the state this week…

West

Average temperatures were mostly above normal across the West this week, while much of the Great Basin, New Mexico and southern California experienced below-normal temperatures, with departures of 1 to 6 degrees F below normal. Conversely, Montana observed temperatures ranging between 3 to 12 degrees F above normal this week. Precipitation fell across much of the region but amounts were mostly normal to below-normal for the region. Heavier rainfall totals, up to 600% above normal, were observed over parts of northwest Washington, Utah and New Mexico. Daily maximum precipitation records were set in parts of Utah and New Mexico. Above-normal precipitation (up to 8 inches above normal), along with cooler temperatures, allowed drought and abnormal dryness improvements in New Mexico, while abnormal dryness was improved in Arizona, Utah, and Washington. Warmer-temperatures and below-normal precipitation resulted in expansion of moderate to extreme drought and abnormal dryness in eastern Montana based on SPI/SPEI data, as well as low soil moisture and streamflow values…

South

Dry conditions continued across much of the South this week, while precipitation fell just along the western borders of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Temperatures were mixed across the region with the eastern areas experiencing below-normal temperatures, with departures of 1 to 9 degrees F below normal, and above-normal temperatures were observed across western portions of the South, with departures of 1 to 6 degrees F above normal. Moderate to severe drought were expanded across portions of Texas, Oklahoma, and northern Arkansas, while moderate to severe drought were expanded in Louisiana and Mississippi. The expansion and intensification of drought categories were based on short-term SPI/SPEI, reservoir levels, streamflow and soil moisture data…

Looking Ahead

During the next five days (October 22–26, 2024), The cold front crossing the Great Lakes and into the Northeast Wednesday into early Thursday will likely have just enough moisture and lift to produce some mainly light to moderate showers, while conditions should continue to remain dry and mostly sunny for areas farther to the south across the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast U.S. Moisture is forecasted to return to the Pacific Northwest late this week into the weekend, with rain and high elevation northern Cascades snow could commence as early as late Thursday. Temperatures will feel more like September across areas from the central U.S. into the Northeast Tuesday into Wednesday, with highs running 10 to 20 degrees above average for late October and possibly even a little higher over parts of the Upper Midwest/northern Great Lakes on Tuesday. A cold front pushing rapidly eastward from the northern Plains will bring more seasonable conditions after midweek. From late week into the weekend, a building Western U.S. upper ridge that pushes eastward ahead of the Pacific storm system should promote a warming trend first over the Intermountain West and Rockies/western High Plains and then covering much of the central U.S. where many areas should see highs 10 to 20 degrees above normal. The West Coast states should be within a few degrees on either side of normal aside from a brief warmer period over parts of California around midweek.

The Climate Prediction Center’s 6-10 day outlook (valid October 27–31, 2024) favors above-normal precipitation from parts of the Midwest to the West Coast, and across most of Alaska and Hawaii, with below-normal precipitation favored from the Tennessee Valley to the Northeast, as well as parts of the Southwest. Increased probabilities for above-normal temperatures are forecast for Hawaii and much of the contiguous U.S., while below-normal temperatures are likely across the state of Alaska and in the Pacific Northwest.

68% of the Lower 48 is short/very short, tying the highest value at any time during the last 10 years (68% on 10/23/22) per

@USDA_oce‘s Brad Rippey. Conditions worsened in much of the eastern half of the U.S., particularly in the SE.

Click the link to read the article on the NOAA website:

October 23, 2024

As the southeastern United States reels from the impact of two historic hurricanes, a large amount of disinformation about nonexistent weather manipulation technology is spreading across the internet, particularly on social media platforms.  

Below, NOAA identifies some of the inaccurate claims circulating online and provides science-based facts and information in response.

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• CLAIM: The government is creating, strengthening and/or steering hurricanes into specific communities. 
• FACT:  No technology exists that can create, destroy, modify, strengthen or steer hurricanes in any way, shape or form. All hurricanes, including Helene and Milton, are natural phenomena that form on their own due to aligning conditions of the ocean and atmosphere. 

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• CLAIM: NOAA modifies the weather.
• FACT: NOAA does not modify the weather, nor does it fund, participate in or oversee cloud seeding or any other weather modification activities. NOAA’s objective is to better understand and predict Earth’s systems, from the bottom of the seafloor to the surface of the sun. We are deepening our understanding and deploying new resources to improve forecasting and give communities earlier and more accurate warnings ahead of extreme weather events. NOAA is required by law* to track weather modification activities by others, including cloud seeding, but has no authority to regulate those activities.

*The Weather Modification Reporting Act of 1972 (15 Code of Federal Regulations § 908) requires anyone who intends to engage in weather modification activities within the United States, including cloud seeding, to provide a report to the Administrator of NOAA at least 10 days prior to undertaking the activity. Those reports are filed via email and may be found on the NOAA Central Library website.

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• CLAIM: The government is engaging in activities like cloud seeding to modify the weather. 
• FACT: NOAA does not fund or participate in cloud seeding or other weather modification projects. Cloud seeding is the only common weather modification activity currently practiced in the United States — typically by private companies in western mountain basins in winter in order to help generate snow in specific locations, or in the desert southwest to replenish water reservoirs in summer. The method has been used for decades in an effort to increase stored water in snowpack that melts in the spring to maintain adequate water supply.
  
  Decades ago, between 1962 and 1982, NOAA provided support for research into whether hurricane intensity could be modified, known as Project STORMFURY. The research was not successful in modifying hurricanes and STORMFURY was discontinued. NOAA has not attempted to modify hurricane intensity and participate in cloud seeding since. For more information on this project, visit this NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory website.

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• CLAIM: NEXRAD Doppler radars are being used to steer hurricanes and are targeting specific communities.
• FACT: Radars are tools for observation and are not able to direct the motion or intensity of air masses or storms. NEXRAD Doppler radars detect precipitation and the motion of the precipitation particles. The radar can determine an object’s location, shape, intensity and movement relative to the radar, but cannot alter or move those objects in any way. NEXRAD radars have been an essential weather forecasting tool since the 1990s and weather radars in general have been in use in the United States since the 1950s.

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• CLAIM: Solar geoengineering made hurricanes Helene and Milton worse.
• FACT: Solar geoengineering, a theoretical practice which would modify the atmosphere to shade Earth’s surface by reflecting sunlight back into space, is not taking place at scale anywhere in the world. Geoengineering did not impact hurricanes Helene and Milton, let alone make them worse.
  
  The Earth’s warming atmosphere can cause hurricanes to intensify rapidly and carry more moisture, allowing them to dump higher amounts of rain. Record to near-record warm ocean temperatures across the Gulf of Mexico allowed hurricanes Helene and Milton to rapidly intensify. Natural steering currents in the upper atmosphere determine a storm’s path. 

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• CLAIM: NOAA is conducting solar geoengineering.
• FACT: NOAA is not conducting solar geoengineering. NOAA studies the stratosphere and marine boundary layer with instruments on balloons and aircraft to help fill important gaps in our knowledge and inform decisions about the potential risks and benefits of solar geoengineering.

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• CLAIM: NOAA is involved with projects like HAARP and SCOPEX that modify weather. 
• FACT:  NOAA is not associated with these projects, neither of which can modify the weather. 
  
  HAARP is a small National Science Foundation-funded facility in Gakona, Alaska, that conducts research on the ionosphere, 30 to 600 miles above the Earth’s surface. HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is not capable of influencing local weather at Earth’s surface, let alone tropical cyclones thousands of miles away. The HAARP system is basically a large radio transmitter. 
  
  SCOPEX, run out of Harvard University, was a scientific research project to study the behavior of small amounts of aerosols in the stratosphere to advance the understanding of solar geoengineering. The proposed scientific research project ended in March 2024 before field experiments were conducted.