U.S. Drought Monitor

 (data through 11/13/12)
Data Source(s): U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Drought Mitigation Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

A majority of the western U.S. continues to experience short- and long-term drought conditions, while the Pacific Northwest and parts of the northern Rockies remain free of drought (Figure 3). Short-term drought conditions usually refer to conditions that respond quickly to changes in drought, such as range conditions or forest moisture levels. Long-term drought usually reflects conditions with a longer response time, such as reservoir and groundwater storage. While above-average monsoon or winter precipitation will have marked improvements on short-term drought, long-term drought often needs successive seasons with average to above-average conditions.

In the past 30 days, several early winter storms took a northern track across the West, helping to keep drought conditions at bay in Washington, northern Oregon, and Idaho. These storms also helped improve short-term drought conditions that had developed over northern Montana over the past several months. Despite this, some level of drought covers more than 80 percent of the western U.S., with more than 40 percent classified as severeor more intense. These numbers are largely unchanged since last month, because most of the western U.S. has experienced below-average precipitation over the past 30 days.

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