An abundance of moisture across the United States has greatly diminished the Drought Monitor’s findings of drought across the nation. 

Just this week, officials declared California “drought free” for the first time in seven years. 

 

There are no areas of extreme, or exceptional drought classifications in the nation, and very few cases of severe drought. 

However, dryness intensified across parts of the South, while the overall trend toward drought recovery continued in the Four Corners region. 

 

Elsewhere, dryness concerns increased in the Northwest where drought expanded slightly. 

Most of the nation from the central and northern Plains to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast remained free of drought, with severe flooding the primary concern in the nation’s heartland. 

 

Over the next week, an unsettled weather pattern will continue over much of the nation. 

A pair of Pacific storms are expected to bring relief to the Northwest and northern Rockies. 

As the system marches east, it will produce rain and snow from the central Plains into the Midwest, though the Upper Midwest will remain dry.