Texas North Central Plains

U.S. Drought Monitor Report for the Week Ending June 28 (Text)

Following is the text of the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor as released by the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska :

Strong high pressure in the upper levels of the atmosphere dominated the southern U.S. with the storm track over the northern states. This U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) week began with a strong cyclonic storm system moving through the central U.S. and dragging a frontal zone across the southern Plains and Southeast drought areas. Beneficial rains (2 inches or more) fell in some areas, but long-term precipitation deficits and continued hot temperatures limited improvements to the drought depiction.

The Upper Midwest, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic: Two-plus-inch rains fell over parts of New York and New England this USDM week, but below-normal amounts fell to the south. D0 expanded further into southern New Jersey and into southeast Pennsylvania and northeast Maryland where the 30 to 60-day Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was quite dry. The last 30 days have been dry across Maryland, most of Pennsylvania, and western New York, but the corresponding SPI values have been mixed, indicating that the dry percent of normal precipitation values are not rare occurrences for some stations based on their data history.

Beneficial rains in the western Great Lakes resulted in the removal of the D1 in the Minnesota Arrowhead and contraction of the D0 over the Michigan Upper Peninsula. D0 was left over Michigan’s Keweenaw and northern Houghton counties where less rain fell and deficits remained at many time scales.

Southeast: Beneficial (2+ inch with locally 5-inch) rains prompted the contraction of D0 in northern Alabama, northern Georgia , and extreme northwest South Carolina, and slight contraction of the D1 in northwest Georgia. The D4 was dented in central Louisiana over Grant Parish where the rains were enough to make the 30-day SPI wetter than normal. In east- central Florida , D1-D2 were pulled back from Orange to Volusia counties, and in southern Florida areas of D1-D2-D3-D4 contracted. The rainfall helped improve soil moisture conditions on a statewide basis, but June 26 U.S.D.A. reports still had 50 percent or more of the topsoil in each of the Southeast states short or very short of moisture. South Carolina still had over 80 percent of the topsoil short or very short. Long-term precipitation deficits remained, with the last 6 months 15 inches or more behind normal along coastal Alabama and Mississippi and parts of southern Florida, and rainfall deficits of 20 inches or more widespread for the last 12 months. Hot temperatures this week resulted in continued above-normal evaporation, with maximum temperatures in the 90?s and low 100?s, setting new records in some locations early in the USDM week. A spot of D1 was added around Tuscaloosa County in Alabama, which missed the rainfall this week. While the rainfall helped, several large wildfires still raged across Florida.

Severe Weather Outbreak Expected Across North Central Plains ...

An extensive Slight Risk is in place from Montana & Wyoming all the way to Georgia & South Carolina. There are several areas of strong storms this morning across the Plains. One area is across the Northern Plains and a second area is across SE Kansas. The most intense storms are across the second area where a couple Severe Thunderstorm Warnings have been issued. These storms, along with activity farther north, may persist through midday/early afternoon.

Golf ball-size hail, damaging winds to 70 mph, and isolated tornadoes can be expected elsewhere across the Slight Risk area. The severe threat will persist into the overnight hours, so be sure to have your weather radio activated today since severe weather could strike with little or no advance warning. I will be issuing frequent weather updates this afternoon and evening on our Facebook page, so be sure to check frequently.

A few isolated supercells may develop late this afternoon from South Central Kansas to Northwest Texas.