WEST VIRGINIA (LOOTPRESS) – Abnormally dry conditions return to parts of West Virginia.
This week, above-normal temperatures (6°F to 12°F positive departures) and below-normal precipitation (0.5 to 2 inch negative departures) were widespread across the Northeast. USGS 7-day average stream flows have fallen below the 10th percentile across much of western and Upstate New York, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic. CPC soil moisture has also continued to fall to below the 10th percentile across Upstate New York, northern Vermont and New Hampshire, and southern Maine, corroborated by NASA SPoRT 0-200 cm soil moisture percentiles. Therefore, portions of western and Upstate New York and New England were downgraded to abnormally dry (D0) conditions this week, with some D1 (moderate drought) expansion in Upstate New York. Farther southward from Connecticut southwestward into the Mid-Atlantic, 30 to 60-day precipitation deficits (3 to 5 inches over the last 60 days) continue to accumulate, resulting in D1-D4 equivalent 30 to 60 day SPIs, and 7-day average stream flows falling below the 10th percentile in many of these areas. Soil moisture has also begun to rapidly decline, due to the above-normal temperatures this week. As such D0 was expanded across western Connecticut, portions of the Mid-Atlantic coast and Delmarva Peninsula, southeastern Pennsylvania, and central and western Maryland.
Much of the western CONUS experienced below-normal average temperatures this week, with many areas across the Great Basin and Northern Rockies observing greater than 6°F negative departures. Heavy rains in the Southern Plains resulted in continued improvements across Texas this week, while high pressure across the Southeast exacerbated 30 to 60-day dryness in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Florida, leading to degradation of abnormally dry (D0) and moderate drought (D1) conditions. In the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, below-normal precipitation over the past couple of weeks and above-normal average temperatures this week resulted in D0 expansion from the Great Lakes to New England and into the Mid-Atlantic, with some D1 expansion in Upstate New York. Stream flows and soil moisture continue to rapidly decline across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and portions of the Southeast.