Drought covers nearly half of the U.S. this week

Drought conditions continued to expand across the United States this week despite several recent winter storms that covered a large swath of the country.

Just about 46 percent of the contiguous U.S. experienced a moderate drought or worse as of Tuesday's update of the Drought Monitor. Around one-fifth of the country saw a severe or extreme drought. 

Dry conditions out west are relatively straightforward, with persistent ridges of high pressure keeping dry and warm weather parked over the region for extended periods of time. Many spots throughout the Rockies and the Intermountain West are experiencing record-low snowpack as a result.

East of the Rockies, the growing drought has largely been the slow simmer of rainfall deficits building up month after month.

Take a look at Greensboro, N.C., for example, where we've fallen short of our precipitation averages every month since August.

The closest we've come to average over the past seven months was January, during which we saw several winter storms. Even then, the sleet we had on Jan. 24/25, followed by the dry and fluffy snowstorm the following weekend, couldn't make much of a dent in the deficits.

Long-range forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center don't show much relief heading into the beginning of spring. While folks across the Midwest and northern Plains may see much-needed above-average precipitation, our ongoing (but weakening) La Niña continues to favor drier-than-normal conditions across the southern half of the U.S. 

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