10/26/2023

While more fall-like temperatures were experienced last week, the majority of the southern climate region saw no sizable precipitation. Fortunately, though, a few counties in West Texas saw some rain early this week, due to the decaying Post-Tropical Cyclone Norma, resulting in a few one-class improvements in West Texas. Although West Texas was fortunate enough to see some rain in the past week, the rest of the region including Central Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee experienced precipitation totals well below normal. Due to this, one-class degradations were experienced at a large scale in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Overall these widespread degradation in the region have led to the expansion of moderate to exceptional drought (D1-D4), from 71% of the region on October 17th, to 74% on October 24th.

Looking into the future, as outlined by the Weather Prediction Centers, 5-day Total Precipitation Accumulation, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Western Tennessee is expected to see above-normal precipitation amounts. This above-normal precipitation should lead to drought improvements across those states.