To view the latest Oklahoma drought map, CLICK HERE.
Oklahoma’s drought situation continues to worsen, with exceptional drought now covering 20.79% of the state—the highest percentage of exceptional drought in the nation. With moderate to extreme drought affecting all of Oklahoma and no part of the state currently drought-free, conditions remain especially concerning across western and central Oklahoma.
According to the Drought Monitor, exceptional drought has expanded by 4.2% this week, now covering 20.79% of the state. New exceptional drought conditions have appeared in Kingfisher, Canadian, and Grady counties.
Moderate to extreme drought conditions in the current period affect 100% of the state. At this point, 0% of Oklahoma has drought-free conditions, and the closest area with drought-free conditions is northern Kansas.
According to the 6-to-10-day precipitation outlook map, western Oklahoma is leaning above a 40-50% chance of rain through October 3rd, while eastern Oklahoma is leaning above a 50-60% chance.
The pattern of hot and dry in the south with heavy rainfall to the north of the high-pressure system continued over this past week. The highest precipitation amounts were from eastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota to the east through southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, to Ohio and West Virginia. Localized areas in this region received 6 to 8 inches of rainfall. Northeastern Kansas and northern Missouri received 3 to 5 inches, with western Nebraska to southeastern Montana picking up 2 to 3 inches. Monsoonal rain also fell in eastern Arizona to central New Mexico. Southern Florida also received several inches of rain over the week. Precipitation was very spotty and generally light, however, in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, southern Missouri, and western Tennessee and Kentucky. Most of the west coast states had little rain. Most of the south was again 5 to 10F above normal last week, peaking at over 15F above normal in parts of southern Missouri. Several states are setting records for continued warmth during this late summer to early fall period. The rest of the continental U.S. had generally near-normal temperatures.
In the South: The continued heat and dry conditions resulted in large areas of degradations the past week. Extreme drought can be found in every state in this region, with exceptional drought over much of northern Texas, western to southern Oklahoma, and parts of Arkansas. Both short-term and long-term drought are contributing to the conditions in this region. Over the last year, west-central Oklahoma is the driest on record, while in southwest Oklahoma it has been the second driest.
In the High Plains: Most of the High Plains received beneficial rainfall, resulting in improvement to drought categories over parts of all states in the region. More precipitation will be needed, however, to ameliorate the continued extreme drought over much of Colorado and Wyoming as well as parts of Montana, North and South Dakota, and western Nebraska. Areas of exceptional drought are still shown in much of central Colorado and western Nebraska.
In the West: Eastern Arizona to central New Mexico experienced monsoonal storms causing localized flooding and some drought improvement. Southern California and southern Nevada continued to be dry, leading to degradation of dry categories. Central Utah, central Oregon, southern Idaho, and northern New Mexico continue to be the largest areas of extreme to exceptional drought in this region, with smaller areas of extreme drought in a few other states.
To view the 6-10 Day Precipitation Outlook Map, click here.
To view the 6-10 Day Temperature Outlook Map, click here.
To view the Monthly Drought Outlook Map, click here.
