02/22/2024

Last week was a relatively dry week in the Southern region. And for west Texas, these dry conditions have continued for weeks. The Rio Grande valley has experienced these conditions throughout the winter, deplenishing water storage and stressing vegetation. Due to these conditions, widespread one-class degradation was experienced in this area. All of the other states in the region, besides Oklahoma, also had areas change in drought conditions. Most notably, last week’s precipitation in the region due to a cold front allowed northwest Mississippi to break free of a three-month-long D3 (Extreme Drought) condition. Overall, widespread one-class improvements shaved away from long-time drought-affected areas, from 37% of the region experiencing some level of drought on February 13th to 34% on February 20th.

Looking to the near future, the eastern portion of the Southern region is forecasted, by the National Weather Service, for .01 to .25 inches of rainfall over the next two days, with the highest chance of precipitation in Tennessee. The cold front that will initiate rainfall tomorrow has already passed through the western portion of the region, bringing drier air and elevating fire weather concerns to our drought affected areas in the southwest portion of the Southern region.