U.S. Drought Monitor Update for March 1, 2022

According to the March 1, 2022, U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate to exceptional drought covers 49.6% of the United States including Puerto Rico, an increase from last week’s 48.2%. The worst drought categories (extreme to exceptional drought) increased from 10.2% last week to 11.1%. 

A complex weather system moved across the contiguous United States (CONUS) during this week (February 22-March 1). The week began with a large upper-level trough over the western CONUS. Waves of energy generated rain and snow as surface low pressure systems and cold fronts associated with the trough moved east. In their wake, colder-than-normal temperatures dominated most of the country, with the week averaging warmer than normal only over the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. The week was wetter than normal along a storm track that stretched from the Ozark Plateau to New England, and over parts of the Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and Great Lakes. The rest of the country was drier than normal. 

Drought or abnormal dryness contracted in parts of the northern Plains, Mid-Mississippi Valley, and near the southern Appalachians where precipitation was above normal. But with drier-than-normal weather dominating this week, drought or abnormal dryness expanded or intensified across large parts of the West and central to southern Great Plains, and along parts of the Gulf of Mexico coast into eastern sections of the Mid-Atlantic states. Expansion exceeded contraction, with the nationwide moderate to exceptional drought area increasing this week.

Abnormal dryness and drought are currently affecting over 153 million people across the United States including Puerto Rico—about 49.3% of the population