Temperatures averaged below normal in the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, northern half of the Plains, upper Midwest, and Florida while above-normal readings occurred across the Southwest, southern Plains, Southeast, Ohio Valley, East Coast, and Alaska.
The rains were enough to remove D0 in most of northwestern Pennsylvania (and into eastern Ohio) except for a small part in the extreme northwestern section of the state where 90-day deficits and low SPIs still lingered after 2-3 inches of rain.
To the south, the lingering D0 area in central Maryland was slightly adjusted northward into southeastern Pennsylvania to reflect the dryness at 60-days as 0.3-1 inch of rain was not enough to erase short-term (60- and 90-day) shortages as some USGS stream flows remained below the lower tenth percentile (much below normal).
South Although western sections of the South were mainly dry, light to moderate (0.5-2.5 inches) rain fell on southeastern Texas, most of Louisiana, eastern Arkansas, and most of Mississippi and Tennessee.
Farther to the north and west (northeastern Texas, western and central Arkansas into southern Missouri) where Harvey rains missed, both 60- and 90-day precipitation has been less than 50% of normal, creating 4-8 inch shortages.
In southern Missouri, however, 60- and 90-day indices were quite negative, along with precipitation deficiencies of 4-8 inches below normal (less than 50% of normal) even though some areas in eastern sections reported 0.5-2 inches of rain this week.
However, with the recent wetness across much of the northern half of the West, and since the abnormal dryness and drought were short-term in western and southern sections (e.g. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, southwestern Montana), it was easier to justify improvements across this area as compared to long-term drought in northern and eastern areas (e.g. northern and eastern Montana, the Dakotas).
Light to moderate rain (1-1.5 inches) is expected in a narrow band from central Texas eastward to coastal Georgia and the Carolinas, along the far western Gulf Coast, and in the northern Great Lakes region.
It should be dry in the Southwest, Great Basin, and northern and central Plains, with only light amounts (less than 0.5 inches) elsewhere.
Drought Intensity Categories D1 Moderate Drought D2 Severe Drought D3 Extreme Drought D4 Exceptional Drought Drought or Dryness Types S Short-Term, typically less than 6 months (e.g. agricultural, grasslands) L Long-Term, typically greater than 6 months (e.g. hydrologic, ecologic) Source: National Drought Mitigation Center