The swath of rain that feel across parts of the region produced a significant decrease in drought conditions in the past week, with the coverage of area that are officially in drought decreasing from 52% to 26% of the area. Many areas still remain in abnormally dry conditions, and there were some increases in the dryness in southern GA and eastern TN. Rainfall in the next week will be very light so no additional improvements are expected in next week’s map. Fortunately, cold conditions across a lot of the region will reduce evaporation for the next few days, although a return to warmer than normal conditions from Christmas on could cause more loss of moisture to evaporation. The blog will be on vacation next week but you can get the latest Drought Monitor map and information at https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/.
