Drought monitor shows widespread, modest improvements

The December 2nd drought monitor shows 67% of the U.S. is experiencing abnormal dryness or drought, down just under 1% from the previous week, with 41.4% in D1 level drought or higher, down 1.7%.

Precipitation and drought improvement over the past week was fairly widespread across the country this week, with improvements seen on both coasts and across much of the central U.S. Improvement in the north-central U.S. can be attributed to the high amounts of snowfall from the system that swept through much of the Midwest last week. Notably absent from drought improvement was the coastal Southeast, which continues to see drought intensify. Some areas along the Georgia-Florida border are reporting one of the driest November’s on record.

Currently 30% of corn acres are in D1-D4 drought (down 2%), with 30% of soybean acres (down 1%), and 35% of winter wheat acres (down 4%) also impacted. For livestock, 25% of the U.S.cattle herd is in D1-D4 drought conditions (down 3%), with 34% of dairy cattle also in drought (down 2%). The National Weather Service forecast for next week expects widespread rain in the deep south, especially closer to the Gulf coast and Delta regions. Some rain is expected to reach western Georgia and Florida, hopefully easing some of the drought conditions.

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