The U.S. experienced extremes over the past week, today’s National Drought Monitor comments, with drought expanding in the West and a tropical storm bringing extreme flooding to southeast Texas. Drought conditions expanded in the Pacific Northwest and above-normal temperatures made their way into the northern High Plains, causing further drought deterioration in areas where rainfall remained below average.
“The central and eastern Corn Belt was a battleground of sorts, with some locations seeing improvement with this week’s heavy rainfall, while other locations missed out, warranting some degradation due to antecedent dryness,” today’s Drought Summary said. Rains the week ending July 13 again favored the central and eastern Corn Belt and parts of the central Great Lakes. Outside of that, one-category degradations occurred. Iowa and northern Illinois saw a mix of improvement and deterioration depending on where the heaviest precipitation fell. D
The western half of the High Plains saw above-normal temperatures, while the eastern half saw cool temperatures. Improvements in drought were primarily in the Middle Missouri River Basin, including eastern South Dakota and northeastern Nebraska. “Elsewhere in the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas, below-normal precipitation coupled with antecedent dryness warranted several one-category deteriorations,” today’s update notes.