The primary stations in Hawaii were generally drier than normal during May, the last three months, and for the year to date. The precipitation pattern at the Alaska stations was mixed for the three periods. The primary stations in Puerto Rico were drier than normal during May but wetter than normal for the 3- and 5-month periods.

Some regional highlights:

• Texas had the second driest spring (March-May), sixth driest year-to-date, and ninth driest May
• the South region had the ninth driest spring (March-May) and seventh driest year-to-date
• even though the last two months have averaged wetter than normal for the East North Central region, long-term dryness has resulted in the 13th driest November-May
• according to the USDA, 40% or more of the early June pasture and range land, topsoils, and subsoils were classified in "poor" or "very poor" ("short" or "very short") condition for several southern and central Plains and western states
  • national pasture and range land conditions for 2003 were running near the 1995-2002 average
• end-of-May reservoir storage for all but one of the western states averaged below the long-term mean percent of capacity for this time of year

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• Long-term drought continued across much of the West, from the central Plains to the southern Great Lakes, and over parts of Maine
• Although unusually wet conditions for the last 9 months have ended drought in the Southeast U.S., precipitation deficits remained at the 36-month to 60-month timescales

• Palmer Drought Indices,
• Standardized Precipitation Index,
• airport station percent of normal precipitation maps,
• statewide precipitation rank maps,
• Cooperative station percent of normal precipitation maps,
• satellite-based observations of surface moisture,
• satellite-based observations of vegetative health,
• National Weather Service model calculations of
  • soil moisture,
  • runoff,
  • evaporation,
• Midwest Regional Climate Center model calculations of soil moisture,
• percent of average maps for the SNOTEL stations in the western mountains provided by the Western Regional Climate Center
  • hydrologic year precipitation,
  • snow water equivalent of snowpack,
• streamflow maps maintained by the USGS.

A detailed review of drought conditions is available for the following regions and states:

• Northwest region
• Southwest region
• Arizona
• Colorado
• Idaho
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Oregon
• Utah
• Washington
• Wyoming
• East North Central region
• West North Central region
• South region
• Arkansas
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• Oklahoma
• Texas
• Maine

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For additional information on current and past wildfire seasons please see the National Interagency Fire Center web site or the U.S. Forest Service Fire and Aviation web site.

NCDC's Drought Recovery Page shows the precipitation required to end or ameliorate droughts and the probability of receiving the required precipitation.

Additional climate monitoring graphics can be found at the Climate Prediction Center's monitoring pages:

• Weekly, Monthly, 3-Month, 12-Month Monitoring
• El Nino, Drought, Snow Cover, and Degree Day Monitoring
• Weekly Drought Monitoring
• Soil Moisture Monitoring

Precipitation and modeled soil moisture anomaly maps for the Midwest U.S. can be found at the Midwest Regional Climate Center's monitoring page.

Drought conditions on the Canadian prairies can be found at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Drought Watch page.