6/22/2023

With excessive heat in much of the region this past week it is no surprise to see drought conditions worsening. Thankfully though, the region received a sizable amount of rain last week which helped fight off some of the effects of the extreme heat on drought conditions. A one class degradation was identified in Southern Louisiana, West Texas, parts of Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Most notable is much of the Louisiana coast is now experiencing D1 drought conditions as well as West Texas.

While the heat caused many degradations, the measurable precipitation last week did lead to some localized areas of improvements across the region. One class improvements were identified in North Texas, the Oklahoma/Texas panhandles, Arkansas, and Mississippi. As upper level weather patterns continue to support dry and hot conditions for the next couple of weeks, drought conditions are expected to get worse across the southern region.