NOAA Updates U.S. Drought Forecast

Drought conditions are predicted to continue in the Southeast from Alabama to the Carolinas. Also, there is the potential for drought to develop along the eastern Gulf of Mexico and in Florida and over the western Plains from northern Texas into southwestern Nebraska.

Some drought relief is anticipated in parched sections of the United States, but for many areas drought concerns are expected to persist or intensify from January through March 2008, according to the latest U.S. Drought Outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.

“In spite of a number of winter storms that affected the nation during the first two weeks of December, much more rainfall is needed to bring wells, lakes, and reservoir levels back to normal in many areas of the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and parts of Florida,” said Douglas LeComte, drought specialist. “Over the last year or two, the precipitation deficits in these areas have been measured in feet rather than inches.”

Meteorologists continue to forecast below average precipitation for the southern tier of the nation and above average precipitation over the Pacific Northwest, Great Lakes and Tennessee Valley for January through March.

Drought conditions should improve in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, as well as over the Pacific Northwest. Intermittent beneficial rain and snow is expected over the next couple of weeks for California and Arizona, but improvement might be short lived since below average precipitation is expected for the rest of the season. Overall, the country is likely to see warmer than average temperatures over the next three months. “However, there will be fluctuations of warm weather and more typical winter weather throughout the season,” said Mike Halpert, deputy director NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.