Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Rainfall Check



The latest issuance of the drought monitor last week showed the extreme drought conditions haven't improved much, but they also haven't worsened across the area.  The drought has remained fairly steady the past two weeks and each rainfall we receive will help (even if it's a little) with the current drought.  With just two short weeks of August left it's nice to see we've received a little over two inches of rainfall this month, but it still puts us close to an inch below where we need to be for the 21st of August.  There may be, however, a little light at the end of the tunnel.  The seasonal drought outlook from the National Drought Mitigation Center, which is valid from August 16th to November 30th, indicates an improvement in the drought conditions while a persistent drought remains likely for the central/southern Plains and southwest.  It's important to note that this doesn't necessarily mean a complete elimination of the current drought and will likely mean only a slight improvement from the extreme conditions to possibly only severe.  It takes time to recover from extreme droughts which may be something we won't fully begin to feel until next year.

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