The heavy spring rains in late April and early May was to much and to early in the season. The rains that fell 2 months ago are proving to be a weak match to the extended hot and dry period as of late. The U.S. Drought Monitor has now issued a D1 drought ”Moderate Drought” area across central Oklahoma and a D0 “abnormally dry” area has been issued for all of northeast Oklahoma and western Benton and Washington counties in Arkansas. Here are the Oklahoma statistics.
Most of the area has now gone through between 16 to 18 consecutive dry days. This along with the extended forecast is not to encouraging. Here is the 8 to 14 day outlook which shows the conditions for mid July. The result is a similar pattern, hot and dry. The following image is a drought outlook which shows drought conditions continuing or even getting worse over the following several months.
Ross Ellet
