Matt Makens

The drought should be a top concern for folks across the Western US. South
Dakota issued a state of emergency through May due to the ongoing dryness there.

Here's this week's drought monitor update:

Let's compare this drought monitor to that of late February's. 

The most recent monitor is on the left. Note the increase in D3-D4 categories
for the Dakotas and Southern Texas climbs into the D4 category. However, there
are some improvements in Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas due to the big March
storm event.

Let's look at the total precipitation for March.

And the month's percentage of average precipitation received:

The center of the country had a wet bullseye. Yet, the north, west, and southern
US suffered. 

Here are some headlines from NOAA with Thursday's drought monitor release. The
second bullet addresses South Dakota's state of emergency.

Where do we go from here for April is shown in the months outlook:

All of those brown to red areas are dryer than average forecast areas.

Although we do feel that image is overdone in dryness. Perhaps this is more in
line with out thinking. This is the April drought outlook and shows areas of
drought expansion from Wyoming to Texas, Florida, and the Great Lakes. Some
improvement is possible in Oregon and far northern US Plains...however, that
remains to be seen.

Bottom line: 
The drought has seen areas of improvements but offset by areas of development.
The outlook for April will not provide relief to the drought.

Drought update & the outlook: Thursday, April 1st, 2021