Drought Summary for the Western United States Up-dated February 7, 2012

West: Little precipitation fell on most of the large dry area in the West. Only parts of the Colorado Front Range and a few locations in northern Idaho and eastern Washington recorded more than 1 inch, where small areas of improvement were introduced.

The dry week generally kept drought conditions as they were the previous week, with a few limited areas of deterioration. D2 was introduced in a small part of northern Nevada where only about 25 percent of normal precipitation fell during the last 6 months. Meanwhile, D1 conditions were expanded into extreme south-central California as well as northwestern Arizona, and abnormal dryness was brought into southwestern Arizona.

Looking Ahead: During the next 5 days (February 9 – 13, 2012), moderate precipitation totaling 0.5 to locally 1.5 inches is expected across southern Oklahoma, all but the Big Bend region of Texas, and western Louisiana. Light precipitation, generally 0.25 to 0.5 inch, is forecast for western Colorado, the remainder of the southern Plains, from the central Great Basin northward to the Canadian border and westward to the Pacific Coast, and across central and southern peninsular Florida.

For the ensuing 5 days, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) 6-10 day precipitation forecasts indicate enhanced probabilities for above-normal precipitation in a large area that includes almost all of the U.S. from the Mississippi Valley eastward except for the immediate southern Atlantic Coast and peninsular Florida. The odds also favor above-normal precipitation through the central and southeastern Plains and the central Rockies.

Meanwhile, subnormal precipitation is favored in southern Florida, the northern Plains, the Big Bend of Texas, the southern Rockies, California, and adjacent parts of Nevada and Oregon.

Author: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Eric Luebehusen, U.S Department of Agriculture