National Climatic Data Center, 15 July 2004

U.S. Drought Highlights:

• On the national scale, severe to extreme drought affected about 20 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of June 2004.
  • Moderate to extreme drought affected about 31 percent of the contiguous U.S.
• Nationally, the contiguous U.S. was very wet due to heavy rains that fell across the southern Plains into the Southeast. The rains brought relief from drought in parts of Georgia and the Carolinas (PHDI for June vs. May).
• June was dry across much of the West and Northeast, parts of the northern Plains and Midwest, the southeastern half of Alaska, and southern Florida.
• Long-term moisture deficits (last 6 to 24 to 60 months) persisted across Maine, parts of the Great Plains, parts of the Southeast, and most of the West.

Contents Of This Report:

• National Overview
• Regional Drought Watch
• Palmer Drought Indices*
• Standardized Precipitation Index*
• Regional 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

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