U.S. Drought: Weekly Report for June 25, 2024

According to the June 25, 2024 U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate to exceptional drought covers 13.6% of the United States including Puerto Rico, an increase from last week’s 10.1%. For the sixth week in a row, the worst drought categories (extreme to exceptional drought) stayed about the same as last week’s 0.6%.

A high-pressure ridge continued to dominate the upper-level circulation over the contiguous U.S. (CONUS) during this U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) week (June 19–25). The ridge was entrenched over the eastern CONUS while a low-pressure trough dominated the West. The circulation pattern flattened by the end of the week as the trough tried to migrate to the east and a ridge began building in the West. 

Weekly temperatures averaged warmer than normal across most of the CONUS, with much warmer-than-normal heat extending from the central Plains to the Northeast. Only parts of the northern and southern Plains averaged cooler than normal. A cold front that extended from the Southwest to the Great Lakes moved very little during much of the week. As the week progressed, it stretched from the Plains to the Northeast. The front triggered locally heavy rain over the Southwest, Upper Midwest, and parts of the central and northern Plains, as well as New England. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Alberto brought above-normal precipitation to southern Texas and the Southwest as it moved across Mexico. Drier-than-normal weather dominated the rest of the CONUS, especially across much of the West, parts of the Southern Plains, and most of the Lower to Mid-Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic states. The heat in the east increased evapotranspiration. The heat, coupled with persistent dry weather, expanded or intensified drought and abnormal dryness across large parts of the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic states, and Ohio Valley. 

Drought or abnormal dryness also expanded or intensified in the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies, as well as parts of the Plains. But where it rained, drought or abnormal dryness contracted, especially in parts of the Southwest, Plains, Upper Midwest, and New England. Upper-level ridging over Alaska and Hawaii brought a drier-than-normal week to both states and above-normal temperatures to Alaska. Drought and abnormal dryness expanded in both states.

Nationally, expansion was much more than contraction, so the nationwide moderate to exceptional drought area percentage increased substantially this week. Abnormal dryness and drought are currently affecting over 137 million people across the United States including Puerto Rico—about 44.3% of the population.