![]() Patches of moderate to severe drought continued in western and southern parts of the Northeast, with the drought area increasing from 2.0% at the end of October to 6.5% at the end of November. The region's moderate to extreme drought area increased again this month from 46.3% at the end of October to 52.7% at the end of November. ![]() The most extreme drought areas (moderate to extreme drought) were in Iowa and Missouri.ĭrought expanded in parts of the Southeast and contracted in a few other parts. Regionwide, the Midwest region's drought area grew from 32.7% at the end of October to 42.6% at the end of November. It was a dry month across the Midwest, with drought or abnormal dryness expanding. Taken together, the southern Plains, Lower Mississippi Valley, and Tennessee (South Region) saw moderate to exceptional drought contract from 66.4% at the end of October to 55.1% at the end of November. However, in the Lower Mississippi River Valley, the moderate to exceptional drought area continued its upward rise, going from 80.6% at the end of October to 82.4% at the end of November.Īnd in the Tennessee River Valley, moderate to extreme drought expanded from 94.3% at the end of October to 96.6% at the end of November. In the southern Plains, the moderate to exceptional drought area dropped from 63.5% at the end of October to 50.3% at the end of November. In the central to northern Plains, the moderate to exceptional drought area rose from 21.8% of the region at the end of October to 24.4% of the region at the end of November. Drought contraction occurred in northern and southern ends, while drought expansion or intensification occurred in parts of the central Plains. November was mostly drier than normal across the Great Plains, with some wet areas. For the West as a whole, the percent area experiencing moderate to exceptional drought, according to USDM statistics, shrank from 30.6% at the end of October to 27.6% at the end of November.īased on the Palmer Drought Index, the drought area across the West as a whole increased slightly from 29.1% at the end of October to 30.1% at the end of November. The drought area decreased compared to last month in the Northwest and expanded slightly in the Southwest. Moderate (D1) to severe (D2) drought covered about 36.3% of the Pacific Northwest and 12.6% of Montana, and moderate to exceptional (D4) drought covered about 51.7% of the Southwest (Four Corners states). Above-normal precipitation or a re-evaluation of conditions resulted in contraction or reduction in the intensity of drought in the Pacific Northwest, southern Plains, and parts of the Southeast.ĭrought contraction exceeded expansion with the USDM-based national moderate-to-exceptional drought footprint across the CONUS decreasing from 36.5% at the end of October to 36.1% at the end of November (from 30.7% to 30.3% for the 50 states and Puerto Rico).Īccording to the Palmer Drought Index, which goes back to the beginning of the 20 th century, about 37.4% of the CONUS was in moderate to extreme drought at the end of November, which is an increase compared to the end of October.Īreas of drought continued across parts of the West, basically the opposite ends. The below-normal precipitation in November led to expansion or intensification of drought or abnormal dryness over parts of the Southwest, Southeast to Mid-Atlantic, and Mid-Mississippi to Ohio Valleys. Virgin Islands drier than normal, while Hawaii and Alaska had a mixed precipitation anomaly pattern. Ridging in the Caribbean kept Puerto Rico and the U.S. But in most cases, these precipitation amounts were not enough to exceed monthly normals, so most of the CONUS ended up drier than normal for the month. Some of them had enough Pacific moisture to bring precipitation to parts of the West, while some tapped Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic moisture to spread precipitation over parts of the eastern CONUS. Their corresponding cold fronts and surface low pressure systems brought alternating waves of cooler air. Several Pacific weather systems (or short-wave troughs) moved through the westerly jet stream flow, frequently distorting the long-wave pattern. The result was a drier-than-normal month for much of the U.S., with the most extreme dry anomalies over the Plains to Midwest. The northwesterly flow over the central part of the continent, between the western ridge and eastern trough, funneled drier-than-normal air masses from Canada into the central CONUS. This overall pattern produced above-normal temperatures in the north-central part of the CONUS with cooler-than-normal temperatures in the Northeast. The upper-level atmospheric circulation over North America during November 2023 was characterized by an overall long-wave high-pressure ridge over the western CONUS and western Canada and a low-pressure trough that was centered over Hudson Bay and extended into New England.
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