 National Overview
On the national scale,
- severe drought affected about 18 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of October 2001;
- the coverage of the current drought peaked in August 2000 at about 36% of the contiguous U.S., which was as extensive as the major droughts of the last 40 years, but not as large as the "dust bowl" droughts of the 1930's and 1950's;
- the total drought area decreased to about 10 percent by November 2000, but has shown a steady increasing trend since then (see graph below left);
- on a broad scale, the last two decades were characterized by unusual wetness with short periods of extensive droughts, whereas the 1930's and 1950's were characterized by prolonged periods of extensive droughts with little wetness (see graph below right);
- although different parts of the U.S. have experienced unusually wet conditions during the last 25 months, there continues to be little change in the overall national wetness picture;
- the percentage of the nation severely wet has held steady at about three to eleven percent during this period (see graph below left);
- a file containing the national monthly percent area severely dry and wet from 1900 to present is available;
- historical temperature, precipitation, and Palmer drought data from 1895 to present for climate divisions, states, and regions in the contiguous U.S. are available at the Climate Division: Temperature-Precipitation-Drought Data page.
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| Although some areas of the U.S. had well above normal precipitation, many areas were very dry. October averaged slightly below normal when precipitation is integrated across the nation. Eleven of the last 27 months have averaged well below the normal, while only three averaged well above normal (see graph to right). National 2001 precipitation ranks:
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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
 NCDC / Climate Monitoring / Climate of 2001 / October / Search / Help
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