National Climatic Data Center, 14 May 2002

U.S. Drought Highlights:

• On the national scale, severe drought affected about 21 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of April 2002
• Much of the western U.S. continued to suffer from long-term moisture deficits and hydrological impacts of drought, with the moisture deficits most pronounced from the northern and central Rockies to the Southwest
• Beneficial rains helped ease the drought in the Northeast, but parts of the Southeast continued to be very dry
• Conditions were dry, on both the short-term and long-term scales, over parts of the Great Plains

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*

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