The latest monthly climate report for October 2023 was released by NOAA earlier this week. It shows that for the US as a whole, a lot of the country was pretty close to normal, with the exception of the Northeast and Southwest. There was even an area below normal in southeastern Montana. The precipitation percent of normal shows a large area of dry conditions in the Southeast that have contributed to the rapid increase in drought this past month. The Southwestern US has been even drier, although it is usually dry this time of year before the winter rain starts. By comparison, the Upper Plains and the Texarkana region has been quite wet. For the year to date, most of the country is well above normal in temperature. Precipitation has been fairly close to normal except in the western US, where California is still above normal due to all the rain they got earlier this year. You can read more at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-202310 and https://www.noaa.gov/news/mississippi-river-hit-record-low-levels-in-october.
