National Climatic Data Center, 13 June 2003

U.S. Drought Highlights:

• On the national scale, severe to extreme drought affected about 14 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of May 2003
  • moderate to extreme drought affected about 22 percent of the contiguous U.S.
• Short-term conditions were dry across much of the southern Plains and parts of the West
• Above-normal precipitation fell over some of the drought areas of the West and Great Lakes
• Long-term moisture deficits persisted across parts of the Ohio Valley to central Plains, northern Maine, and much of the West

Contents Of This Report:

• National Overview
• Regional Drought Watch
• Palmer Drought Indices*
• Standardized Precipitation Index*
• Regional Precipitation Ranks*
• Statewide Precipitation Ranks*
• Weekly Drought Monitoring Tools*
• State/Regional Moisture Status*

  * From these pages, click on the
  Back button to return to this page.

Climate Services Division
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4876
phone: 828-271-4800
email: ncdc.info@noaa.gov

For further information on the historical climate perspective presented in this report, contact:

Richard Heim
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: Richard.Heim@noaa.gov

-or-

Jay Lawrimore
NOAA/National Climatic Data Center
151 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801-5001
fax: 828-271-4328
email: Jay.Lawrimore@noaa.gov

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