Drought spreading in Southern Plains HRW areas
The U.S. Drought Monitor showed dryness/drought spread and mildly intensified in Texas over the past week. As of Oct. 26, Texas was 55% covered with dryness/drought, up 10 points from the previous week, including nearly all of the wheat-intensive areas in the Panhandle and West Texas. Drought is more widespread in Oklahoma and Colorado, covering 95% and 96% of those states, respectively. Both Kansas and Nebraska saw modest improvements in their drought footprints over the past week, with 38% of Kansas and 80% of Nebraska still experiencing dry conditions. The hardest hit HRW state is Montana, which is fully engulfed in drought, including extreme or exceptional conditions over 70% of the state.
The Drought Monitor also notes U.S. white wheat areas in the Pacific Northwest are almost entirely covered by drought conditions, with much of that area being severe, extreme or exceptional drought.
The Drought Monitor shows virtually no abnormally dry conditions and no drought across the SRW states. In fact, some of these areas are experiencing excess soil moisture.
USDA says approximately 43% of U.S. winter wheat areas are experiencing drought.
Click here for the full weekly Drought Monitor summary.
