U.S. Drought Monitor

 (data through 9/13/11)
Data Source(s): Data Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Drought Mitigation Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Drought conditions in the U.S. remain largely confined to southern states and the Southwest (Figure 3). This national pattern reflects the dry conditions brought on by La Niña last winter.

In the last month, abnormally dry conditions expanded into southern Nevada and eastern Colorado due to a couple of hot and dry spells. Meanwhile, monsoon precipitation, albeit spotty, helped provide some short-term relief in parts of New Mexico and southern Colorado. The rest of the western U.S. remains drought-free, as it has since last January when record precipitation started to fall across areas from California to Montana. The NOAA-Climate Prediction Center has issued a La Niña Advisory, which means that La Niña conditions have developed and are expected to persist for the at least the next six months (see page 16).

NOAA will issue its official winter outlook in mid-October, but La Niña winters often mean drier-than-average conditions across the southern tier of the U.S. and wetter-than-normal conditions in the Pacific Northwest and Ohio Valley.

Notes: