Climate of 2005 - October
U.S. Drought

U.S. Drought Highlights:

• On the national scale, severe to extreme drought affected about 6 percent of the contiguous United States as of the end of October 2005.
  • Moderate to extreme drought affected about 18 percent of the contiguous U.S.
• The month was much drier than normal across a broad swath of the country from the Great Lakes to the Deep South, with 12 percent of the contiguous U.S. very dry (in the bottom 10th percentile of the historical record). Parts of the West were also drier than normal.
• Heavy October precipitation ended the dryness in the Northeast.
• The October dryness aggravated long-term drought in the southern Plains to Lower Great Lakes (2 to 6 to 9 months). Long-term moisture deficits (last 24 to 36 to 60 months) persisted across parts of the West into the northern High Plains and central Plains.

Contents Of This Report:

• National Overview
• Regional Drought Watch
• Drought Indicators
• 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.

• 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