National Climatic Data Center, 12 December 2002

U.S. Drought Highlights:

• On the national scale, severe to extreme drought affected about 26 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of November 2002
  • moderate to extreme drought affected about 36 percent of the contiguous U.S.
• Short-term conditions improved across much of the western U.S. yet long-term deficits persist
• Short and long-term conditions continued to improve over the east coast
• Much of the central and southern Plains began to suffer from short-term drought

Contents Of This Report:

• National Overview
• Regional Drought Watch
  • Western U.S.
  • Central U.S.
  • Eastern U.S.

• 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
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