Rain Moving Across the South Into Next Week

In the Midwest, a system moved through the region this week with scattered showers, particularly across the north. Colder air moving across the Great Lakes kept showers going into Thursday. A system moving across the south will bring some showers into the region Friday through the weekend. And a front will move across the region with more showers around the middle of next week. The recent rainfall has been slowly reducing drought in some areas, though it has persisted in others. The coming rain will not be enough to significantly reduce this drought.

In the Northern Plains, showers fell early this week, but it got dry afterward. Some areas that have been missed saw dryness and drought increasing while others, specifically in Montana, saw drought decrease. Drier conditions are expected through Saturday. A front will push through Sunday into Tuesday with scattered showers, but probably not enough to significantly impact the dryness in southeastern South Dakota.

In the Central and Southern Plains, some showers went through Nebraska on Monday, but most of the region has been dry this week. That is changing with a system moving into the region on Thursday that will only slowly move eastward through the weekend. Areas of showers and thunderstorms will develop, and heavy rain will likely result in some places. That will help with the expanding drought in the region, specifically in Texas. Drier conditions are expected next week.

In the Delta, rain over the weekend improved drought in some areas of the region, while Louisiana saw drought increasing after being missed. A system will move through this weekend with scattered showers and thunderstorms and could produce more areas of heavy rain that would help to improve drought. Though last weekend’s rainfall did provide a small boost to water levels on the Mississippi River, it has not been much. The coming rainfall likely will do something similar — boosting water levels slightly and for only a short while.

In the Southeast, another front brought some limited showers to the region on Tuesday across the north, but most areas were dry again. Drought has continued to increase, particularly around Georgia. A system will move through the region this weekend into next week and should provide widespread rainfall to the region. Another front will move through around the middle of the week that may produce more rain. That should help with the drought but will not be enough to bust it.

In the Western U.S., widespread and heavy precipitation last week and over the weekend especially has helped to reduce drought across much of the region. A system continues across the Four Corners into Friday, but the Southwest will be drying out. The north will be a little more active with a system bringing widespread showers this weekend into early next week. Another system may move through in the middle of next week with more.

John Baranick can be reached at john.baranick@dtn.com