In an update released this week, the U.S. Drought Monitor report shows severe drought conditions have a stronghold on the American southwest, with the most severe drought conditions persisting across southern Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico as well as south western and south-central Texas.  Drought is also expanding across Hawaii.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced through a partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Changes to the U.S. Drought Monitor depiction were somewhat limited this week compared to the last few,” wrote the authors of this week’s update. “Increases in drought coverage occurred in parts of southern Texas, New Mexico, much of Colorado, and parts of Kansas, Nebraska and northern South Dakota. Dry weather and high fire danger continued in south Florida this week, leading to further degradation and the development of localized extreme drought. The higher precipitation amounts in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast led to some localized improvements in ongoing drought and abnormal dryness. Heavier precipitation over the last month has quickly improved conditions in this region, with lessened precipitation deficits and increasing groundwater in many areas.”