National Climatic Data Center, 14 March 2003

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 February 2003
  • moderate to extreme drought affected about 34 percent of the contiguous U.S.
• Short-term conditions continued dry across much of the Great Lakes to central and northern Great Plains, and February marked a return to dry conditions across much of the West Coast
• Long-term moisture deficits persisted across much of the western U.S., from the central Plains to Great Lakes, and across parts of Maine

Contents Of This Report:

• National Overview
• Regional Drought Watch
  • Western U.S.
  • Central U.S.
  • Eastern U.S.
• Palmer Drought Indices*
• Standardized Precipitation Index*
• Regional Precipitation Ranks*
• Statewide Precipitation Ranks*
• Weekly Drought Monitoring Tools*
• State/Regional Moisture Status*

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