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

Regional Overview

• Several states had the tenth driest, or drier, month in February and also for multi-month seasons (December-February, September-February, March-February and others). These states include:
  • Arizona
    • (driest December-February, September-February, and other seasons)
  • Arkansas
    • (driest March-February and October-February)
  • Illinois
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
    • (driest February)
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Missouri
  • Nebraska
  • New Mexico
  • Oklahoma
    • (driest November-February)
  • Texas
  • West Virginia
• Record dry conditions were reported at several stations in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and West Virginia. At the end of February, Phoenix, AZ had no precipitation for 133 consecutive days, making November 2005-February 2006 the driest November-February on record. With just 0.14 inch of precipitation since November 1, Albuquerque, NM had the driest November-February since at least 1893.
• Numerous wildfires during the month burned across several states in the central and southern Plains, southern Appalachians, and adjoining parts of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys. The fires were especially widespread during the end of February into the beginning of March.
• In central Texas, managers at the Edwards aquifer imposed a drought alarm, asking users who draw their water from the aquifer to lower their water consumption by 20 percent. As of February 12, drought conditions, statewide, have created an estimated $1.5 billion in losses. In Arizona, the Commission on Emergency Management declared a drought warning for the Navajo Nation. By the end of the month, in parts of Illinois farm ponds and wells had gone dry and numerous grass fires had developed. The Missouri Drought Assessment Committee declared 81 of the state's counties in some form of drought status, ranging from drought advisory to Phase 3 "conservation phase" drought.
• More than two-thirds of the winter wheat crop in Texas and Oklahoma was rated poor to very poor by early March. The winter wheat crop was also suffering in other states in the Plains, Midwest, and East.
• 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 east central 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 Lower Great Lakes and Ohio 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 reflected the February precipitation pattern. February streamflows were below seasonal norms across much of the Great Plains and mid-Atlantic region, the mid-Mississippi Valley, the southern and central Appalachians and adjoining Ohio and Tennessee valleys, and Southwest, as computed by models and based on USGS observations.
• Worsening drought conditions in the Southwest increased the western U.S. drought percentages (PDI December, January, February). About 21 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 February. 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