Heavy precipitation fell in western Oregon and adjacent southwest Washington and northwest California this week, and across large portions of the central U.S., as a series of storm systems caused continued bouts of severe thunderstorms and unfortunately included more significant tornadoes. The wet weather across portions of the Great Plains and Midwest led to either scattered or widespread improvements to ongoing drought or abnormal dryness, dependent on precipitation amounts, improvements to soil moisture and streamflow, and the degree of long-term dryness remaining in different locations.
This week, widespread heavy rain fell across Iowa, Missouri, southern Minnesota and portions of central Kentucky. Temperatures across the region this week were mostly above normal (outside of western Iowa); the warmest temperatures occurred in Indiana and Ohio, where weekly anomalies ranged from 6 to 12 degrees above normal. In the western half of the Midwest region, widespread improvements to drought occurred as the recent wet pattern continued, alleviating short-term precipitation deficits in most areas and creating short-term surpluses in some. However, significant long-term precipitation and groundwater deficits remain in many areas, especially in parts of Iowa, so the current drought depiction still shows widespread moderate and severe long-term drought there.
Moderate to heavy rain amounts fell in eastern portions of the High Plains region, especially in central and eastern Nebraska, northern and eastern Kansas and eastern North Dakota. Temperature anomalies varied across the region, with temperatures coming in 3-6 degrees above normal in southern Kansas, while northwest Colorado and Wyoming finished the week at 3-9 degrees colder than normal. In eastern Kansas and Nebraska and in eastern North Dakota, heavy rains continued the recent wet pattern, leading to improvements in ongoing drought and abnormal dryness.
In parts of eastern Nebraska, improvements were somewhat tempered by remaining long-term precipitation deficits and hydrologic impacts from those deficits. In southwest Kansas and adjacent southeast Colorado, many areas mostly or completely missed out on recent rains, continuing the very dry weather from the last few months, during which Dodge City tied its record for the driest April on record there (with just 0.02 inches of precipitation).
National Drought Mitigation Center/University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Comments