National Climatic Data Center, 14 October 2004

U.S. Drought Highlights:

• On the national scale, severe to extreme drought affected about 14 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of September 2004.
  • Moderate to extreme drought affected about 25 percent of the contiguous U.S.
• Record rains in the eastern U.S. from three tropical systems inundated the remnant drought areas of the Southeast. Heavy rains also fell from the northern Plains to parts of the Southwest, bringing short-term relief to some of the drought areas of the central Plains and Southwest.
• In between these two September wet bands was a large swath of very dry conditions which stretched from the Great Lakes to the Lower Mississippi Valley and southern Plains. The southwestern quarter of the country was also dry.
• Long-term moisture deficits (last 6 to 24 to 60 months) persisted across parts of the mid-Mississippi Valley and northern High Plains, and most of the West.

Contents Of This Report:

• National Overview
• Regional Drought Watch
• Palmer Drought Indices*
• Standardized Precipitation Index*
• Regional Precipitation Ranks*
• Weekly Drought Monitoring Tools*
• State/Regional Moisture Status*

  * From these pages, click on the
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For further information on the historical climate perspective presented in this report, contact: