Exceptional drought noted in Minnesota for the first time, as Extreme and Exceptional drought cover large portions of Dakotas

Monsoonal moisture was squelched this week, in contrast to the heavy rainfall that had been pelting the southern Rockies and, to a lesser extent, much of the interior West. Totals between 1 and 2 inches were limited to a few patches in southeastern Arizona, central and south-central New Mexico, and scattered higher elevations in central Colorado and central Montana.

West of the Plains, only part of northwestern Montana and northwestern Washington saw fairly widespread amounts of 1.5 to locally 3.0 inches.

Farther east, significant rainfall evaded most areas of dryness and drought from the Plains to the Atlantic Seaboard, with a few dramatic exceptions. Most of interior Wisconsin recorded 2 to 5 inches of rainfall from north of Milwaukee into far southeastern Minnesota. Moderate to heavy rains were not as widespread elsewhere, with amounts exceeding an inch covering relatively small areas. The scattered areas of heavy rain included northeastern and part of southern North Dakota, northeastern South Dakota, a few areas from central Minnesota southward into central Iowa and southeastern Nebraska.

South

Areas of dryness and drought remained restricted to a few relatively small areas, but coverage increased from last week, and surface moisture depletion was exacerbated by abnormally hot weather. New or expanded patches of D0 dotted Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Texas, with broader D0 coverage introduced in central and northeastern Arkansas. Dry conditions are relatively short-lived in this region, but the hot, dry weather is quickly depleting soil moisture, and the region could see more substantial expansion and intensification of dryness as August progresses. A small area of moderate drought was introduced within the D0 in the eastern Red River Valley where 60-day precipitation totals were under half of normal.

Midwest

It was feast or famine across this region. Heavy rains produced a broken pattern of improvement across southern Minnesota, central and northern Iowa, and southern Wisconsin. In stark contrast, drought across central and northern Minnesota intensified, and precipitation on time scales ranging from a couple months to almost a year was deficient enough to prompt the introduction of D4 in northern Minnesota—the first time drought of such intensity was identified in the state. Three-month totals there were 5 to 8 inches below normal, and 6-month shortages approached 10 inches. Longer-term deficits are also affecting central and northern Iowa, but the past few months have been wetter there, so D2 to D3 conditions were more prevalent. Farther south and east, dryness expanded slightly in some locales from Missouri to Michigan and Ohio, but nothing more intense from D0 covers the northern Ohio Valley states. Crops remained stressed, especially spring wheat and barley. In Minnesota, 37 percent of the barley crop was in poor or very poor conditions, as was 40 percent of spring wheat.

High Plains

Similar to some other regions, small scattered areas of heavy rain induced localized improvement, but most areas received little rainfall at best, leading to increasing moisture deficits and thus expansion and intensification of dryness and drought. Some improvement was noted in southwestern North Dakota, but much broader areas of deterioration were observed across eastern North Dakota and many areas from South Dakota through Nebraska and Kansas. Drought intensities of D3 and D4 now cover large portions of the Dakotas. Limited precipitation fell on Colorado and Wyoming, but decreased impacts and localized moderate rains led to 1-category improvements in central Colorado and southwestern Wyoming.

West

Little or no precipitation fell on most of the region, and drought intensity remained unchanged from last week in most areas. Some improvement from recent monsoonal rains were introduced in southern Utah while conditions deteriorated in central Washington and a few isolated patches in northern Utah, western California, and northern Oregon. The dryness, exacerbated by periods of intense heat, has led to the rapid development and expansion of wildfires. The Dixie Fire in northern California has scorched hundreds of thousands of acres, making it the second-largest fire in the state’s history. Fires in the western half of the contiguous states (including Colorado and Wyoming) have burned, on average, 30 square miles of total area every day since early June—an area approaching half the size of Washington, D.C.