According to today's Drought Monitor report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),this week saw continued improvements on the map across areas of the South, including TX, in response to another round of localized heavy rainfall during the past week. Overall, the recent rainfall in TX throughout the past month has started to make a significant dent in the state’s drought conditions in some areas.
In contrast, drought conditions intensified in areas of the central and northern Plains with additional degradations on this week’s map. In these areas, recent drought impact reports submitted to the National Drought Mitigation Center indicated drought-related impacts within the agricultural sector including reduced crop yields as well as deteriorating pasture and rangeland conditions.
In the Midwest, light to moderate (1 to 5+ inches) rainfall accumulations were concentrated mainly across the Lower Midwest with the heaviest accumulations observed in southern portions of MO, IN, and OH. On the map, improvements were made in areas of Abnormally Dry (D0) in northern OH and IN while areas of Moderate Drought (D1) and Severe Drought (D2) were reduced in southwestern MO.
Conversely, short-term precipitation deficits (past 30-120 days) and negative soil moisture anomalies led to deterioration on the map in west-central IL and northeastern MO. Average temperatures for the week were above normal (ranging from 1 to 6 deg F) across much of the region, except for areas of southern MO, southern IL, and western KY where temperatures were a few degrees below normal.
For the full USDA report for Sept. 8, click here.