According to the August 9, 2022, U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate to exceptional drought covers 42.0% of the United States including Puerto Rico, a decrease from last week’s 43.2%. The worst drought categories (extreme to exceptional drought) decreased from 15.9% last week to 15.6%.
A subtropical high pressure ridge continued across the southern half of the contiguous United States for another week. The jet stream stayed far to the north, keeping the main storm track along the U.S.-Canadian border. Pacific weather systems mostly moved within the jet stream flow, with cold fronts that were dragged along with the upper-level weather systems sweeping across the northern states. In a few cases, the fronts penetrated further south into the ridge. The fronts generated above-normal precipitation over the Great Lakes and Mid-Mississippi to Ohio Valleys, and afternoon heating triggered convective showers and thunderstorms in the humid air over the Gulf Coast states.
The North American monsoon continued to generate showers and thunderstorms over the Southwest, while an upper-level low pressure system just off the West Coast helped to spread moisture into the Far West, with above-normal precipitation extending from California to southern Montana. Drier-than-normal weather dominated the Pacific Northwest, central Rockies, most of the Plains, and areas along the East Coast. This weather pattern resulted in warmer-than-normal temperatures for much of the contiguous U.S., except where clouds and rain kept weekly temperatures near to cooler than normal in parts of the West, northern Plains, and Gulf of Mexico coast.
Drought and abnormal dryness contracted where it rained, especially in the Southwest, along the Mississippi Valley, in the Great Lakes, parts of northern New England, and in Puerto Rico. But expansion or intensification of drought and abnormal dryness occurred in the Great Plains and parts of the Midwest and Northeast. Nationally, contraction exceeded expansion, with the nationwide moderate to exceptional drought area decreasing this week.
Abnormal dryness and drought are currently affecting over 174 million people across the United States including Puerto Rico—about 55.9% of the population
The full U.S. Drought Monitor weekly update is available from Drought.gov.
In addition to Drought.gov, you can find further information on the current drought as well as on this week’s Drought Monitor update at the National Drought Mitigation Center.
The most recent U.S. Drought Outlook is available from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center and the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides information about the drought’s influence on crops and livestock.
For additional drought information, follow #DroughtMonitor on Facebook and Twitter.
