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Latest Drought Update: Wet-Season Ends on Dismal Note for West

April 10, 2021
By WeatherBug's Christopher Smith
Another dismal drought update comes this week as the West continues to miss out on the precipitation and temperatures begin to heat up moving into the middle of Spring.

The wet season is coming to an end across the West and after below-average precipitation amounts were recorded for the season, the chance for widespread relief is dropping drastically. Temperatures for the first week of April averaged 5 to 15 degrees above average and large parts of the Southwest received no precipitation. Many mountain chains that provide water for the warm and dry season through melting snowpack are seeing very low levels of snow on the ground. For example, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is currently running at 59 percent of average.

Even where precipitation did fall in the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies, the amounts were too light to lead to drought improvement. As a result of the continued dry weather, exceptional drought was introduced in south-central Oregon, only the third time exceptional drought has been recorded in the state since 2000. Moderate drought also expanded in eastern Washington while large areas of extreme and exceptional drought persisted across the Southwest and the eastern parts of California.

A similar story resulted for parts of the southern Plains where warming Spring temperatures and gusty winds have quickly dried out soils across large parts of Texas and Oklahoma. A small area of extreme drought was added for parts of central Texas while moderate and severe drought expanded across north Texas into southern Oklahoma. West Texas continues to be the worst location in the state for drought, where exceptional drought expanded.

Moving northward into the High Plains of the Dakotas and Nebraska, the warmth and gusty winds also headlined the weather. Temperatures soared to Summer-like 80s and dangerous fire weather erupted as humidity levels plummeted. As a result, large expansions of severe and extreme drought occurred across the western half of the Dakotas.

In the Midwest, April started on a cold note. Temperatures dropped below freezing across the area and record lows were set across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Even with the dry weather, the colder temperatures kept soils from losing too much moisture. Only a small area of southeast Wisconsin and northeast Illinois saw an increase in coverage of moderate drought.

The East was the only area that saw widespread precipitation over the past week. Showers and thunderstorms erupted along the same potent cold front that brought freezing temperatures to the Midwest. Almost the entire East is free of drought, with exceptions found in New England and Florida’s Peninsula. Only south Florida saw increased moderate drought coverage as rainfall totals for the season are running as low as 5 percent of normal.

Looking ahead to the next drought update, there’s not any good news for the Southwest as hot temperatures and a lack of precipitation will provide no drought relief. Parts of New England will also see lackluster precipitation amounts, likely mounting precipitation deficits. Light precipitation amounts, but colder-than-average temperatures should keep areas of drought mostly unchanged across the Northwest.

Good news does come for parts of the Plains, Midwest and south Florida. A pesty storm system that delivered rounds of showers and severe thunderstorms should deliver reductions of drought across parts of the Midwest. Meanwhile, a slow-moving cold front will bring much needed rain to Florida’s Peninsula.

Source: U.S. Drought Monitor