National Climatic Data Center, 14 August 2003

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Long-term moisture deficits persisted across parts of the Great Lakes to central Plains, northern Maine, and much of the West.

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Some regional highlights:

• New Mexico had its driest July, and four other states had ranks in the top ten driest for July, in 2003, based on statewide records going back to 1895
  • Colorado - 6th driest
  • Wyoming - 7th driest
  • Kansas - 7th driest
  • Montana - 10th driest
• Washington and Oregon had their 3rd driest and 5th driest May-July, respectively, and their second driest June-July, in the 109-year record
• Maine had its 7th driest August-July in the 109-year record
• unusually hot temperatures accompanied the dryness, with many stations in the West and Great Plains reporting record high temperatures in July
• according to early August reports from the USDA,
  • 55% or more of the topsoils were classified in "poor" or "very poor" ("short" or "very short") condition for all of the reporting states from North Dakota to Texas then westward to the Pacific coast
  • 40% or more of the pasture and range land was classified in "poor" or "very poor" condition for several central Plains and Far West states
• end-of-July reservoir storage for all of the western states averaged below the long-term mean percent of capacity for this time of year
• as noted by the National Interagency Fire Center , more than four dozen significant wildfires had broken out across the southern Plains and western states by the end of July

• 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 vegetative health,
• satellite-based observations of surface moisture,
• 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,
• streamflow maps maintained by the USGS.

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

• Northwest region
• Southwest region
• West region
• Arizona
• Colorado
• Idaho
• Montana
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• Oregon
• Utah
• Washington
• Wyoming

• West North Central region
• South region
• Kansas
• Michigan
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• Oklahoma
• South Dakota

• Maine
• New Hampshire

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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.