Data released on Jan. 1, 2019; Map released Jan. 3, 2019

South: Heavy rains (3-8 inches, locally to 12 inches) soaked much of eastern Texas and eastern Oklahoma, with light to moderate totals (1-3 inches) falling on the central and northern Texas and the remainder of Oklahoma. Only western and southern Texas missed out on the plentiful precipitation. Accordingly, a general 1-category improvement was made to the D0 and D1 areas of Oklahoma, most of northern Texas. In northern Texas, however, the small D1 area and the surrounding D0 was left since it was longer-term (>6-months), and the 0.25-1.5 inches of rain this week were not enough to alleviate the deficits. In extreme southern Texas, no rain increased 90-day deficits of 1-4 inches, thus the existing D0 area was expanded slightly northward, a new D0 area added to near Corpus Christi, and two new D1 areas were drawn where the biggest deficiencies were found in southern Texas.

Looking Ahead: During the next 5 days (Jan. 3-7) a storm system will track across the South, bringing another round of moderate to heavy rain (1.5-4 inches) to the southern Great Plains, lower Mississippi Valley, and Deep South, with lighter totals in the mid-Atlantic and coastal New England. Unfortunately, it appears as though central and southern Florida will miss out on the rains. Pacific storm systems should drop decent precipitation along the West Coast and on the Cascades and Sierra Nevada. Light precipitation is also forecast for parts of Arizona, western New Mexico, southern Utah, and southwestern Colorado. Elsewhere, little or no precipitation will occur in the Great Basin, Plains, and Midwest. Temperatures should average above to much-above normal across the lower 48 States, with subnormal readings limited to the Southwest.

The CPC 6-10 day extended range outlook (Jan. 8-12) showed enhanced chances for above-normal precipitation in the Northwest, Southwest, southern and central Plains, middle Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, Northeast, and southern Alaska. Subnormal precipitation was likely in the northern Plains, Southeast, and northern Alaska. Unseasonably mild weather is expected to continue throughout the lower 48 States with the exception of northern New England. Subnormal readings are favored in western Alaska, with near-normal temperatures in southeastern sections of the state.

Read more at https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/