The latest Drought Monitor, released this morning, shows improvement in the drought intensity this week due to the rain we got last weekend. However, this rain has provided only limited relief to the soil moisture in the top 100 cm and dry conditions continue in many areas below the surface layer. The rain tonight (Thursday night) in Alabama and Georgia will peter out as it moves south but will bring more moisture to South and North Carolina and Virginia tonight and tomorrow, so that could provide some more relief on next week’s map. After this system moves out, relatively dry conditions should occur for at least the next week, and more like two weeks in southern AL and GA, so that part of the region could see abnormally dry conditions return by the end of the month.
