U.S. Drought Monitor

 (data through 1/17/12)
Data Source(s): U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Drought Mitigation Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

In the West, drought substantially expanded in the last month as dry conditions moved in across most of the region, according to the January 17 U.S Drought Monitor (Figure 3). Drought still remains most severe in Arizona and New Mexico, but a large swath of moderate drought has emerged in northern California, western Nevada, and southern Oregon. In these regions, precipitation has been less than 50 percent of average in the last 60 days, and negative impacts associated with the dry weather are mostly seen in agriculture, ranching, and other sectors influenced by shorter-term fluctuations in the weather. Impacts to water supply, on the other hand, respond to climate changes on timescales typically longer than six months because reservoirs buffer acute dry periods. In the Upper Colorado River Basin, snow has been scant for parts of Colorado, southern Wyoming, and Utah. Abnormally dry conditions now characterize these regions.

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