(USAgNet) – This past week saw improvements to drought conditions in the Central and Southern Plains, Lower Mississippi Valley, and Southeast, with several locations receiving more than 2 inches of rainfall (more than 5 inches, locally).

During the seven days leading up to March 22, a series of storm systems moved across the contiguous United States, dropping heavy rain across parts of the Great Plains and Southeast, with lighter amounts seen across parts of the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West, according to today’s Drought Monitor report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Throughout much of the United States, where antecedent dryness coincided with below-normal precipitation, drought either continued or worsened in intensity.

The only areas where this was not true was across parts of the Upper Midwest, which experienced some removal of long-term drought due to improvements from melting snow cover.