US Drought Monitor and Summary, Dec. 7, 2017

On this week’s map, conditions continued to deteriorate in the region despite some precipitation (generally less than 1 inch) being observed in portions of eastern Oklahoma and the northern Gulf Coast of Texas. According to NOAA’s NCEI, the South experienced its third driest and eighth warmest November on record. In Texas, areas of drought expanded across the eastern portion of the state as the warm and dry pattern continued. According to NOAA’s NCEI, Texas experienced its twelfth driest and sixth warmest October-November period on record. In Oklahoma, hot and windy conditions continued to degrade pasture and rangeland conditions. Average temperatures across the region were 6-to-14 degrees above normal for the week with the greatest anomalies observed in northeastern Texas and eastern Oklahoma. Read more at droughtmonitor.unl.edu.