Drought continues to spread across the United States

It's not just your imagination—it's been an unusually dry couple of months across the United States.

The latest update of the United States Drought Monitor (USDM) on Oct. 7 showed 73 percent of the country mired in abnormally dry or full-on drought conditions. This includes much of the Intermountain West, as well as vast swaths of the southeast, Midwest, and New England. 

Compare that map to the one from June 3:

Big difference!

The most significant degradation has occurred along and east of the Mississippi River. Persistent ridges of high pressure suppressed thunderstorm activity and shunted weather systems around the region. A near-complete lack of landfalling tropical systems has also contributed to the rainfall deficit, especially across the southeast.

Only a few areas have seen drought improve between the beginning of June and the start of October, including the northern half of the Plains and portions of Texas and the desert southwest.

Forecasters with the Climate Prediction Center don't see much improvement on the way over the next couple of weeks. Only a few areas, such as southern Florida and the Pacific Northwest, have better-than-even odds of above-normal precipitation heading into the back half of autumn.

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