According to the January 30, 2024 U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), moderate to exceptional drought covers 19.7% of the United States including Puerto Rico, a decrease from last week’s 23.0%. The worst drought categories (extreme to exceptional drought) decreased from 3.7% last week to 1.9%.
The atmospheric circulation over the contiguous U.S. for this U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) week (January 24–30) was dominated by an upper-level ridge of high pressure that was responsible for above-normal temperatures across the U.S. and well into Canada. Several Pacific weather systems penetrated the ridge, bringing rain and snow to western, southern, and eastern parts of the country. Weekly precipitation was above normal in the Pacific Northwest and parts of the Southwest. The weather systems took a southerly then northeasterly track east of the Rockies. When they tapped Gulf of Mexico moisture, they spread above-normal precipitation across the western to central Gulf of Mexico coast, much of the southern Plains, and the Lower and Middle Mississippi Valley to the Appalachians. The systems then drew in Atlantic moisture to give most of the Northeast wetter-than-normal conditions.
The week was drier than normal in California to the Great Basin, the central Plains to northern Rockies and Upper Mississippi Valley, and along the coastal Southeast. Temperature and precipitation anomaly patterns were mixed in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands in Micronesia. Drought or abnormal dryness contracted or was reduced in intensity over parts of the Pacific Northwest and Southwest, and in a wide swath from Texas to the Appalachians. Drought or abnormal dryness expanded or intensified in areas from California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Northern Rockies and in parts of the western Great Lakes. Nationally, contraction was much greater than expansion, so the nationwide moderate to exceptional drought area decreased significantly this week.
Abnormal dryness and drought are currently affecting over 64 million people across the United States including Puerto Rico—about 20.6% of the population. It has been nearly four years since dryness and drought have reached these lows.
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.
