U.S. Drought Monitor

 (data through 8/14/12)
Data Source(s): U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Drought Mitigation Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Drought conditions persisted across much of the western U.S. and expanded to the north in the past 30 days during a record hot and dry summer (Figure 3). The area of the western U.S. covered by drought was up slightly from 79 percent in mid-July to 83 percent in mid-August. Nearly 17 percent of the western U.S. is classified with extreme drought, which is defined as a drought that occurs, on average, once in every 20 years. Colorado is experiencing the only exceptional drought in the West. The northern Rockies saw the greatest changes in drought in the last month, with abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions expanding across almost all of Montana. Most other areas observed static drought conditions, except for Colorado, which saw some areas of the state improve while other parts worsened.

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