National Climatic Data Center, 15 June 2004

U.S. Drought Highlights:

• On the national scale, severe to extreme drought affected about 18 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of May 2004
  • moderate to extreme drought affected about 33 percent of the contiguous U.S.
• May was warmer than normal and dry across the Southeast, southern and central Plains, and parts of the West, resulting in a slight increase in the national percentage drought area
• Above-normal rainfall brought improving conditions to the Upper Midwest (April - May) and short-term relief to the drought areas of the Pacific Northwest
• Long-term moisture deficits (last 9 to 24 to 60 months) persisted across parts of the Great Plains, parts of the Southeast, 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
  Back button to return to this page.

Climate Services Division
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4876
phone: 828-271-4800
email: ncdc.info@noaa.gov

Richard Heim
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: Richard.Heim@noaa.gov