Since my last post on the Drought Monitor depiction of drought in our region at the end of June, the area of extreme drought in the Southeast has expanded from 0.5% to 2.5% of the total area of the region. Both below-average rainfall and well above-average temperatures contributed to the expansion of the worst drought conditions, although the total area of abnormally dry or worse also increased slightly. Drought may expand in the next few weeks as above normal temperatures are expected to continue at least through the end of the month, with few breaks to normal or cooler temperatures.
If you are seeing drought conditions in your area that are not reflected on the drought map, you can help to make it better by submitting a drought impact report at https://droughtreporter.unl.edu/map/. Just click on the link on top to “Submit a Report”. I’ve heard from several people in Laurens County GA and elsewhere that they should be in the drought area but so far this has not been captured by the drought map.
