Climate of 2006 - January
U.S. Regional Drought Watch

Regional Overview

• Several states had the tenth driest, or drier, month in January and also for multi-month seasons (November-January, August-January, February-January and others). These states include:
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • Illinois
  • Louisiana
  • New Mexico
  • Oklahoma
  • Texas
• Arizona had record dry conditions statewide for several seasons back to September-January.
• Arkansas had the driest October-January.
• Stations in Texas and Arizona had the longest number of consecutive days without measurable precipitation, and Key West, Florida reported the longest run of days with less than a tenth of an inch of rain.
• Numerous wildfires throughout the month burned across several states in the central and southern Plains. Since the beginning of the year, over 3700 fires have charred more than 330,000 acres.
• The drought in Texas and New Mexico ravaged the winter wheat crop which is a major source of food for cattle, and this was forcing many ranchers to sell calves prematurely (Clovis News Journal, 1/26). In January, Governor Perry declared a drought disaster in all 254 Texas counties. According to Texas Cooperative Extension reports, more than 90 percent of the state's range and pastures were in extreme, stressed condition, and more than 90 percent of the wheat statewide was poor to very poor. Texas drought losses reached an estimated $1.5 billion this month (AgNews, 1/26).
• End-of-month and month-averaged soil moisture conditions, based on model computations (CPC-1, CPC-2, MRCC), were drier than normal across a broad swath from the southern Plains to the central Plains and western Great Lakes. From this core area, dry soil moisture conditions extended into the southwestern and southeastern U.S. The models also indicated dry soil moisture conditions in parts of Alaska and Hawaii, and near the surface and at depth from Nebraska and Kansas to the mid- and upper-Mississippi Valley.

These overall conditions are evident in the following indicators:

• Palmer Drought Indices,
• Standardized Precipitation Index,
• long-term (36 to 60 month) percent of normal precipitation maps,
• airport station percent of normal precipitation maps,
• statewide precipitation rank maps,
• Cooperative station percent of normal precipitation maps,
• percent of average maps for the SNOTEL stations in the western mountains provided by the Western Regional Climate Center
  • hydrologic year precipitation,
  • snow water equivalent of snowpack,
• snow course snowpack observations in the western mountains provided by the USDA NRCS
• satellite-based observations of vegetative health,
• National Weather Service model calculations of
  • soil moisture,
  • runoff,
  • evaporation,
• National Weather Service model calculations of soil moisture using the Leaky Bucket Model,
• Midwest Regional Climate Center model calculations of soil moisture,
• streamflow maps maintained by the USGS.

A detailed review of drought and moisture conditions is available for all contiguous U.S. states and the nine climatological regions:

• Streamflow levels were below seasonal norms across much of the southern Plains to mid-Mississippi Valley, and parts of the central Plains, Gulf Coast, and Southwest, as computed by models and based on USGS observations.
• Above-normal precipitation continued eroding the drought areas of the Pacific Northwest, but worsening drought conditions in the Southwest increased the western U.S. drought percentages (PDI December, January). About 17 percent of the western U.S. (Rockies westward) fell in the moderate to extreme drought category (as defined by the Palmer Drought Index) as of the end of January. Aggregated reservoir levels in the West (provided by the USDA) reflected the long-term precipitation deficits in many states.

Additional Contacts:

• Weekly, Monthly, 3-Month, 12-Month Monitoring
• El Nino, Drought, Snow Cover, and Degree Day Monitoring
• Weekly Drought Monitoring
• Soil Moisture Monitoring

• For all climate questions other than questions concerning this report, please contact the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services Division:
  
  
  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