US Drought Monitor and Summary, Jan. 10, 2017

Minimal precipitation and subnormal temperatures prevailed across the Plains. In Texas, precipitation was limited to the northern Panhandle) along with some small trimming of Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions, and in the extreme southeastern coast. Meanwhile, short-term dryness and drought expanded in the northeast where it was dry this week. Central Oklahoma saw 0.1-0.3 inches of liquid equivalent precipitation in the form of snow, but this wasn’t enough to deter additional deterioration as reported impacts from ranchers and farmers indicated ground level conditions were worse than what the indices and products suggested. Reports from former state agriculture officials indicated that 60 percent of the farm ponds in Woodward, Harper, western Woods and Major, Ellis, and northern Roger Mills counties were dry, and that pastures and winter wheat crops were wiped out. It is possible that major relief from the 5-year 2010-2015 drought was more concentrated from south-central through east-central Oklahoma, and that recent dryness, warmth, and windy conditions have exacerbated the impacts across northern and western Oklahoma. Nevertheless, the combination of short-term (out to 90-days) dryness and worse than expected ground-level impacts prompted an expansion of Severe Drought (D2) into north-central Oklahoma, and Moderate Drought (D1) in southwestern and northern Oklahoma. Read more at droughtmonitor.unl.edu…