California and National Drought Summary for May 16, 2017 Summary May 18, 2017 – An active weather pattern continued to result in widespread showers, with some of the heaviest rain falling across the Plains, Midwest, and mid-South. Another area of significant precipitation stretched across the middle and northern Atlantic States, while showers also dotted the Northwest. In contrast, mostly dry weather prevailed from California to the lower Rio Grande Valley, as well as large sections of the lower Southeast. Drought changes from last week were a mix of improvement and deterioration. Specifically, warm, dry weather and short-term rainfall deficits in Texas led to significant increases in the coverage of abnormal dryness (D0) and moderate to severe drought (D1 to D2). Also, hot, mostly dry conditions led to further expansion of moderate to extreme drought (D1 to D3) across southern Georgia and Florida’s peninsula. Elsewhere, patchy improvements in the drought situation were noted in a few areas, including parts of the Southeast. The Northeast Another soaking storm further reduced the coverage of lingering, long-term dryness (D0). Vestiges of dryness, reflected mainly in spotty groundwater shortages, remained in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Pastures, however, have recovered from last year’s drought and on May 14 were rated 100% good to excellent in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, along with at least 80% good to excellent in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Southeast Spotty showers brought a mix of slight improvement, no change, or deterioration in areas from Alabama to the southern Atlantic Coast. Florida, with an expanded area of extreme drought (D3) across the central part of the peninsula, led the nation on May 14 in topsoil moisture rated very short to short (77%) and pastures rated very poor to poor (51%), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Southern Georgia also saw an expansion of D3. Through May 16, year-to-date rainfall in Orlando, Florida, totaled a record-low 3.34 inches (27% of normal). In a May 14 report, USDA noted that Florida’s citrus growers “are irrigating daily to keep moisture on the trees” and that “ditches and canals are very dry in all [citrus] areas.” In addition, Florida’s livestock producers “continue to feed hay, and many need to have it shipped in.” Further, wildfires remain a threat across the lower Southeast. The West Mims fire, near the Florida-Georgia line, has been burning for more than a month after being started by lightning on April 6. The fire has consumed more than 150,000 acres of timber, brush, and grass east of Fargo, Georgia, mainly in…