The last 30 days of rainfall across the US has highlighted the vast difference in precipitation amounts between the West Coast and the East Coast this year. On the West Coast, almost no rain at all, leading to worsening drought there that is one factor that is leading to many wildfires this year. On the East Coast, two tropical storms (Fred and Ida) brought tens of inches of rain to some locations along the paths, while other areas away from the centers of those storms were still drier than normal. Unless there is a pattern shift to direct more of the tropical storms towards Texas, this divide between West and East is likely to continue at least for the next few months. The map below, from https://water.weather.gov/precip/, shows the percentage of normal rainfall for the last 30 days, with the paths of Fred and Ida converging over the Mid-Atlantic States, leading to incredible rainfall and flooding there this week.
