Much cooler, wetter weather prevailed over most areas, with moderate to heavy showers in southern New Jersey easing D0 dryness. Rain missed northern New Jersey, however, maintaining D0 across the northern half of the state.
Short-term dryness led to the introduction of D0 to southern Delaware, with the last 30 days featuring less than 60 percent of normal rainfall. Meanwhile, little in the way of significant rains has led to more expansion of D0-D3 across the southern Mid-Atlantic, particularly from North Carolina into southern and central Virginia. Soil moisture percentile rankings in southern Virginia have declined rapidly over recent weeks, as this part of the state received locally less than one-third of normal precipitation over the past 30 days. Despite cooler weather, dryness continues to hold firm in interior portions of the Southeast, causing an expansion of D1 drought southward into northern Florida.
Tropical Storm Edouard tracked northwestward across central Texas, producing moderate to locally heavy showers (1 to 6 inches). However, Edouard was largely a disappointment, bringing pulses of rain as it tracked inland rather than dropping a widespread, drought-easing rainfall. Consequently, the drought reductions from this system were localized. Improvements noted in southern Texas were in response to earlier rains and still-decreasing drought indices. Heavy showers and thunderstorms in northeastern Texas led to reductions in D0 and D1 areas, although again, the heaviest rain was confined to a relatively small area. In contrast, dryness led to an expansion of D2 drought in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as well as D3 and D4 drought around San Antonio.
Farther north, heavy rain over the central High Plains eliminated the D4 drought in the Oklahoma Panhandle and shaved D0 through D3 drought over the rest of the region. Again, the typical summer-time nature of the rain (hit and miss) was responsible for much of central Oklahoma staying generally dry. The lack of rainfall over the past week coupled with increasing short-term moisture deficits led to an increase of the D0 area in central Oklahoma. Showers (locally more than 3 inches) also eased D0 dryness in eastern Nebraska. Much of the northern Plains and upper Midwest remained largely unchanged. In particular, impacts of D3 drought are still being noted in North Dakota despite recent shower activity. Moderate to heavy rain eliminated D0 dryness from western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota into central South Dakota, with some locales reporting more than 4 inches.
Maintained status quo under a warm, mostly dry weather regime.
Heavy rain (locally more than 6 inches) led to widespread reductions of D0 and D1 from Arkansas to the Gulf Coast. However, the driest portions of the region (central Louisiana) reported less than 0.5 inches for the week, leading to little if any reduction of the D2 drought area.
In Hawaii, showers reportedly restored irrigation reservoir water levels over northeastern Kauai, changing the "H" designation of the D1 area to an "A". Elsewhere, conditions have improved, although not enough yet to scale back drought designations on Maui and the Big Island. There were no changes made to Puerto Rico, due to spotty, generally light rainfall.
During the next 5 days (through August 18), a slow-moving, autumn-like storm system will drop heavy rain from the central Plains southward to the western Gulf Coast and Delta, providing additional drought relief to much of the south-central U.S. Farther east, high pressure will bring drier weather back to the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states, although showers will linger along a dissipating frontal boundary over southern Florida. Across the western third of the nation, dry weather and expanding heat will prevail as a strong ridge of high pressure builds over the Northwest. Elsewhere, light showers will provide little if any additional drought relief to the northern Plains, with mostly dry, increasingly hot weather anticipated during the latter half of the period.
The CPC 6-10 day forecast (August 19-23) calls for additional, much-needed rainfall over the southeastern quarter of the nation as well as portions of the northern Plains. In contrast, drier-than-normal conditions are expected to linger over southwestern drought areas. Favorably cooler weather is anticipated from the central High Plains southeastward into the Delta, while above-normal temperatures prevail west of the Rockies and across the northern-tier states.