Drought also improved across western portions of the Florida Peninsula, but areas right along the coastline near the Tampa Bay area still have over 20-inch rainfall deficits over the past year, so much more is needed to ease drought in the areas immediately adjacent to the coast. However, despite the heavy rainfall, long-term deficits remain very much in place, especially across upstate portions of Alabama and Georgia, where several locations are still experiencing more than 8-inch rainfall deficits over the past 6 months. 1-category improvements were broadly warranted from the central Gulf Coast northward to the southern and central Appalachians, where many locations received over 2 inches of rainfall this week. Short- and long-term drought conditions improved this week throughout the Southeast, associated with the passage of two storm systems. The exception was across the valley and ridge region in the central Appalachians extending from southern Pennsylvania to West Virginia, where targeted improvements were made in areas that have been bombarded by several episodes of heavy rainfall over the past couple of months. However, most of the precipitation fell in drought-free areas. Some locations away from the coast picked up a foot or more of snowfall. NortheastĪ strong storm system moving up the Eastern Seaboard January 6-7 brought heavy rainfall to coastal areas of the Northeast this week, with heavy snow falling in portions of the interior. Conversely, another week of warm temperatures and below normal rainfall in Puerto Rico resulted in widespread deterioration of the drought depiction. In Hawaii, a Kona low spinning off to the north brought heavy bands of precipitation to western portions of the island chain, warranting some improvements to drought conditions. ![]() In Alaska, no changes to the drought depiction are warranted this week. However, several areas experiencing antecedent dryness and drought missed out on the precipitation, leading to further degradations, particularly across the northern Rockies, Front Range, and across parts of the western Colorado Plateau in Arizona. Across the Intermountain West, it was a wet and snowy week mainly for parts of the Pacific Northwest and isolated locations in the Great Basin and Four Corners region, leading to some targeted improvements. Heavy snow also fell across parts of the Central Plains and Midwest as it moved slowly eastward, with snowfall still ongoing across parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes by the end of this week. ![]() More than 2 inches of rain fell in many areas, with localized amounts upwards of 5 inches. ![]() Then a second system in its wake was ramping up across the Mississippi Valley toward the end of this week (Tuesday, January 9), bringing heavy rainfall to the Lower Mississippi and the Deep South. A winter storm pummeled the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast over the weekend (January 6-7). It was a stormy week across much of the eastern lower 48 states leading to widespread drought improvements east of the Rockies.
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