The latest Drought Monitor, released today, shows that drought in the Southeast decreased due to recent rains. The extreme (D3) drought was removed from North Carolina and shrunk in area in Georgia and Alabama. A small sliver is still hanging on around Tampa on the West Coast of Florida. Other areas of the Southeast generally saw reductions in drought severity because of the rain. Parts of the Florida Panhandle, SE Alabama, and SW Georgia saw a 2-class improvement, which is quite rare. However, there were some expansions of abnormally dry (D0) conditions in eastern North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia in the coastal plains area, which was largely missed by the rain. That will likely change after the coastal storm this weekend, which is expected to bring a lot of precipitation to the East Coast. There was no change in Puerto Rico this week.
You can view change maps at Change Maps | U.S. Drought Monitor (unl.edu).
