10/12/2023

A combination of more seasonable temperatures and multiple cold fronts that swept through Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, led to an enhanced amount of precipitation in three states last week, which resulted in widespread one-class improvements concentrated in East Texas, Southern Oklahoma, and Southern Arkansas. Widespread areas of precipitation accumulations three times more than normal even led to some two-class improvements in Southeast Texas and the Texarkana region. Although some areas were fortunate to receive quite high rain totals last week, Mississippi and Tennessee experienced below-normal precipitation totals. Due to this, one-class degradations were experienced along the Mississippi River, where water levels are below normal, and in Tennessee. Overall though, improvements in the western half of the region led to the contraction of drought in the southern climate region, from 87% of the region experiencing some level of drought on October 3rd, to 84% on October 10th.

Looking into the future, as outlined by the U.S Seasonal Drought Outlook, throughout October Northern Mississippi and Tennessee can expect drought conditions to worsen as the Climate Prediction Center's monthly outlook for October outlines above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation for the two states.