Due to the hot weather and almost complete lack of rain other than a few scattered showers, much of the Southeast is now in drought or abnormally dry conditions other than southern Florida and a few other areas of Georgia and Alabama. This rapid decline of conditions has caused loss of some corn crops during pollination, water stress on many other crops as well as pastures and forage, and drying water supplies in a few vulnerable locations. The flash drought is likely to continue to spread in the next week as temperatures will continue to be hot with only scattered showers likely. While warmer than normal temperatures are likely to continue through July, a pattern shift should bring more moisture and the chance of pop-up thunderstorms to the state for most of the month. The tropics are mostly quiet for now except for Hurricane Beryl, which is headed to Mexico and then possibly southern Texas, but we don’t expect much if anything from the remains of Beryl. A plume of Saharan dust will keep the tropics quiet for the next week or two, so no tropical rainfall is expected.
