Let’s talk drought! Where has it worsened or improved in last month

As we move into the months where more volatile weather strikes, there are also very dry spells that linger for far too long. The lack of rain for days, or sometimes weeks, often combined with hot temperatures, worsens the drought. If we compare the drought situation between February 1 and March 1 the country has worsened a bit, especially in the drought levels 1 and 2, by at least 3.5%.

The drought has intensified where dry conditions have persisted for many years, across the West. By February 1, Nevada, although dealing with a level 4 drought across the south-central region, still had some level 1 areas across the northwest. By March 1, the entire state is at least under a level 3 drought, with the worse drought levels still affecting the south-central region.

California is another state where the drought conditions have worsened in the past month. There was an increase of about 21 percent in the level 2 drought (severe). There were two regions where the drought got significantly worse, not only worsening by category but also expanding. The extreme drought, or level 3 drought conditions, are now experienced across the northwestern area of the state, from areas north of Sonoma County (north of the San Francisco Bay) through the southern region of Siskiyou County.

The other area now in extreme drought is the bordering counties to Nevada, like San Bernardino and Inyo counties. Overall, California increased by 11.4 percent its extreme drought conditions.

Arizona’s drought has also slightly worsened from an abnormally dry level to a moderate drought, the area has expanded 20 percent. Severe drought levels (level 2) have increased in coverage by almost 4 percent.

Although not as severe, we now notice some abnormally dry conditions across the Midwest, especially across much of Iowa.

Florida saw a big jump from not having a drought, to now about 85 percent of the state being under abnormally dry conditions. Parts of the Big Bend area and extending over north-central Florida, and much of the west-central Florida region experienced really dry weather in the past month, which have placed them under a moderate drought. It is important to highlight that Florida is also going through the dry season and the peak of fire season is coming up during late spring and early summer. The drought will be closely monitored as this is a powerful combination for the future wildfires that could ignite in the state.

The coastal areas of the Carolinas are now up one level, from abnormally dry to moderate levels. Drier than normal conditions are also expected under La Niña in this region.

Colorado is a state where we notice a mix between improving conditions and worsening droughts. The good news is that the extreme drought levels have decreased. A chunk highlighted as a level 3 drought (extreme) just east of Denver has improved to levels 1 and 2 (moderate to severe, respectively). But areas just west of Denver have worsened from abnormally dry, reported on February 1, to severe, reported on March 1.

Overall, the nation improved a bit from the worse drought level, exceptional, but only by 0.16 percent. But, hey! That´s an improvement, especially from the worse level.

Although much of Texas is still a mixed bag of drought levels, the extreme drought decreased a bit over the northern central area of the Lone Star State.

The heavy winter precipitation that affected the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic in February also helped the abnormally dry conditions just east of the Appalachians from Virginia to North Carolina.

The Northern Plains have also experienced a slight improvement. The extreme drought has shrunk across much of Montana, about 5 percent.