US Drought Monitor and Summary, June 13, 2017

Drier weather covered most of the region as temperatures began to increase late in the week after a relatively cool period the past 4-6 weeks. Exceptions to the dryness included scattered showers (0.5-2 inches) from western Oklahoma southeastward into the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, and in parts of the Texas Panhandle and southwestern Texas. Some small improvements were made in Texas where the heaviest rain fell, but overall conditions mostly deteriorated as June is normally a wet month for Texas and Oklahoma (and northward into the northern Plains). As a result of subnormal rainfall the past 30-days and increasing heat, D0 expanded in the 2 states, along with the addition of a few small new D1 areas in western Texas and southern Oklahoma. The deterioration could have been worse if it was not for the subnormal temperatures of May and early June. According to the USDA/NASS on June 11, corn, rice, cotton, sorghum, winter wheat, oats, and pastures were rated mostly fair to excellent in Texas and Oklahoma. Read more at droughtmonitor.unl.edu…