A record 56% of the nation is under an official drought, a record for the recording history of the Drought Monitor. Just over three-quarters of the nation is under conditions that are approaching drought status, defined as D1-D4 on the map, which is a beige color.
The drought has been very much enhanced by the historical ridge of high pressure that has been keeping storms to the very ends of the US, shown by the deep drought present in the Southern US.
Relief from the heat is on the horizon, however relief from the drought will not soon come to the Western US, although the Eastern US may reap some benefits of increased precipitation. I can see a potential relapse opportunity into the hot temperatures and high pressure system for the East if the Madden-Julian Oscillation is able to overcome increasingly present El Nino conditions throughout the atmosphere.
Andrew
2 comments:
I can only see this getting worse before it gets better.I cannot remember a dry and hot spell since the summer of 1988.Of course the drought and heat that is occuring now is nothing compared to the one that happened in the june-august 1988 timeframe.This was a terrible one!Thanks for posting this Andrew.Let's just hope this doesn't last into the upcoming fall/winter seasons.Keep us updated!
They said yesterday, that Ft. Wayne set another all time record, 4-100 degree +days in a row, which has never happened. I'm not positive, but I don't think personal fireworks have ever been banned in this town like this year. Two people were arrested when they disregarded the ban, and four yards caught fire from a few firecrackers. And a kid caught his parents garage on fire with a magnifying glass.
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