GREENSBORO, N.C. — November is typically one of our drier months, but this November has been even drier than usual.
According to the United States Drought Monitor, nearly half the state is abnormally dry, and 14% of the state is dealing with moderate drought conditions.
Through November 27th, at Piedmont-Triad International Airport, our November rain total is nearly 2" below average for the month.
For the entire year, we’re still running a slight rainfall surplus.
Our next shot of rain won’t arrive until Thursday night into Friday morning as a cold front moves through the area.
However, rain totals aren’t expected to be high enough to help much with the drought conditions.
The rain will likely be light and scattered in nature.
The locations that do receive rain, will likely see rain totals less than a quarter of an inch.
The rain chance will end by Friday afternoon, leading to another dry weekend.
Copyright 2017 WFMY

Analysing rainfall and temperature data of 50 years, researchers from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have found that the frequency of heatwaves accompanied by drought has increased not only in magnitude but in area too over the past three decades – particularly in Gujarat and Central India.
Heating up fast Researchers calculated the Heatwave Magnitude Index daily (HWMId) — which combines duration and magnitude of heatwaves — and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), which defines meteorological drought from 1951 to 1981.
Even the extreme of extreme scenarios – of 10-day long heatwave where temperatures are above the 95th percentile of range recorded – has been found on the rise in Gujarat and mid-South India.
The longest was in 1983 when a heatwave lasted 63 days; while, in 1998, heatwave conditions affected nearly 49% of the country’s area.
While the rest of the country, too, showed increases in frequency, a surprising decrease was seen in Rajasthan and West Bengal.
Researchers believe this could be due to the intricate relationship of land surface processes, soil moisture, evapo-transpiration and local climate.
The area affected by the ‘extreme of extreme’ incident has gone from almost nothing in 1951, to nearly 4% by 2010.
Ms. Sharma said the next step would be to factor in soil moisture along with the data to develop models that could predict where the extreme events could occur.
This could contribute to policy making and ensure preparedness,” she said.
Both phenomena have a serious bearing on water resources, affecting agriculture and human settlements.

Now, the Bayou City is surrounded by a drought inching closer with each sunny day.
A rainfall deficit has been building since Harvey that now measures up to 12 inches going back to September 1.
This November has been particularly dry.
With just half an inch of rain to date, it will likely go down tied as the fourth driest November in Houston’s recorded history.
Because our soil is composed largely of clay, most of the floodwaters from Harvey drained into the Gulf of Mexico rather than getting absorbed into the ground.
Absent regular rains, drought can manifest even just a few months after major floods.
The long-range weather outlook does call for a pattern change that could bring us needed rain during the second week of December, possibly keeping drought away from Houston for now.
Texas is no stranger to droughts and floods.
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Greenville and Asheville have posted above normal rain totals for most of the year, so you wouldn’t think that the word drought would be in our vocabulary.
Believe it or not, despite Asheville and Greenville being over 10 and 7 inches above average for the year, eastern portions of the Upstate and most of the Midlands are exhibiting mild to moderate drought conditions.
If you recall during a lot of those severe weather outbreaks from various tropical systems and otherwise that produced flooding rains (which does no good for drought conditions), did so in areas west of the midlands.
By the time they finally did progress east, they dropped heavy rain only for a few minutes in these eastern locations, which didn’t result in near as much rain as what their western neighbors received.
Another thing to note is that most of the month of November has been very dry even for GSP and Asheville who are 2.5 and 1.5 inches below average respectively.
If this trend continues into December, it might mean that these drought conditions could spread west into more of the Upstate and mountains.
Copyright 2017 FOX Carolina (Meredith Corporation).
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A moderate drought has returned to Alabama due to the abnormally dry weather conditions that we’ve experienced over the past several days.
A dry northerly flow will continue this evening under a mostly clear sky.
Temperatures may near the freezing mark in some of the outlying areas tomorrow morning, with patchy frost.
After the cold start in the morning, we will have more sunshine, with a nice warm-up into the mid to upper 60s.
Tuesday will also be another very dry day and a milder southerly flow will return, with highs in the upper 60s.
NEXT RAINMAKER: We will finally start to see some changes that involve a chance of rain on Wednesday as moisture increases in advance of a frontal system.
We will have increasing clouds with a chance for a few isolated showers during the day on Wednesday.
This cold front won’t be associated with a major push of frigid air, so while we will dry out again on Friday, I’m expecting a return to a more seasonal temperature pattern.
Highs will be in the 50s and 60s going into the weekend, with lows in the upper 30s and low 40s.
I do see the potential for some rain and storms around the December 5th/6th time frame as a stronger cold front impacts the region.

ALBUQUERUQUE, N.M. (AP) – Drought is expanding its grip on New Mexico and parts of the Southwest once again thanks to a stretch of warm, dry weather.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque say Friday marks the 50th consecutive day without measurable rain in Albuquerque.
While the state’s most populous area is still far from setting any dryness records, many parts of New Mexico are seeing unseasonably warm temperatures that are helping to dry out soils and exacerbate the problem.
Many cities topped out Thursday in the 60s and 70s.
In western New Mexico, Grants broke a previous record with a high of 67.
Forecasters say New Mexico is on track to mark the warmest November on record.
As for moisture, the latest maps show abnormally dry and low-level drought conditions have expanded slightly along the Arizona-New Mexico border.
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November 2017 is likely to go down as one of the driest and warmest on record for Texoma.
Many areas have had less than half an inch of precipitation in the past 30 days, October 24 to November 24, when this was posted.
This is a period that normally yields around four inches of precipitation.
So we’re talking 30-day rainfall in many cases at about 15% of normal.
Bad news!
Couple this with record warmth in October and we can see how the drought conditions are getting bad.
Virtually all of Texoma is now in a moderate drought, with a significant portion in a severe drought, including all of Choctaw, Fannin and Lamar Counties and portions of adjacent counties (see color table at bottom of map).
An unusual November weather pattern, partially the result of La Nina, continues to favor rain-stingy skies.
Please be especially careful when handling any ignition sources outdoors as fire danger is very high…and getting worse by the day.
Take Care, Steve LaNore Chief Meteorologist News 12 / KXII-TV

As we went through the first half 2017, the Ark-La-Tex received plenty of rainfall.
Even in the summer months I remember getting enough rain that I didn’t have to water my yard and the grass was thriving.
However, as school resumed, rain became scarce.
Lastly, here is a look at the normal rainfall totals that we received, the actual rainfall and the deficit or "blessing."
Shreveport is sorely lacking in rainfall with a deficit of more than a foot.
Texarkana’s "blessing" is a bit misleading.
Remember all those spring rains that came frequently with heavy totals along and north of I-30.
I am confident that the drought update next Thursday will show even more of the Ark-La-Tex under a severe drought.
Your StormTracker 12 Team will be tracking this drought very closely and providing updates on ksla.com, as well as on the KSLA News 12 mobile apps and even on our Roku app.
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With an issue as important as drought mitigation on the docket, the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District wanted to conduct a public hearing in the best way possible.
That’s why the NRD introduced its new open-house style of public hearing Tuesday at the Lifelong Learning Center on the campus of Northeast Community College in Norfolk.
“They had opportunities to give oral comment or written comment and testimony on what they thought about the plan.
“Overall, I consider it a success.
It was kind of a free-for-all, but everybody stayed calm.
You could go do what you wanted when you wanted and spend as much time at each subject as you wanted.” Danny Kluthe, the former chairman of the Lower Elkhorn NRD’s board of directors, was one of those in attendance.
He was pleased with the new format.
This way, they can sit down one-on-one and actually hear what the district is thinking — and probably get the right idea of what’s going on.
Communication’s big, and I think this is an excellent way to communicate.” “You got to have (a) one-on-one for a little bit.
It likely will include ranking drought severity by five levels — abnormally dry (D0), moderate drought (D1), severe drought (D2), extreme drought (D3) and exceptional drought (D4), which is the level that the 2012 drought in Northeast and North Central Nebraska reached.

Between 2 and 4 inches fell from central and eastern Illinois eastward across central and northern sections of Indian and Ohio, Michigan, and northwestern Pennsylvania, and similar amounts were more isolated across the higher elevations of the northern Idaho Panhandle, south-central Idaho, western Wyoming and adjacent areas, and a few scattered areas in northern sections of Nevada and Utah.
Light to locally moderate precipitation was not enough to change things in the Northeast, and while very little precipitation fell on the mid-Atlantic region, cooler weather kept significant deterioration at bay.
As a result, short-term dryness continued to intensify at a fairly rapid clip, particularly from central Arkansas and adjacent Oklahoma southward.
This brought an end to the small area of moderate drought in western Indiana, and eliminated abnormal dryness in northeastern Ohio and part of central Illinois.
Farther west, dryness and drought were unchanged in southeastern Iowa.
Northern Plains Very little precipitation fell on northern Minnesota, the Dakotas and the dry areas of Montana, but this is a dry time of the year climatologically for the region, so no substantial increase in precipitation deficits was noted, and last week’s depiction was not changed.
West In the northern Intermountain West, light to moderate precipitation fell on the D0 areas in southern Idaho and interior Washington, with only scattered light amounts reported across interior Oregon; however, despite this week’s unimpressive precipitation, impacts resulting from below-normal precipitation have gradually eased over the past several weeks, and all abnormal dryness was removed from the region.
Abnormal dryness was introduced in central Utah, leaving only the northwestern part of the state free from dryness.
Temperatures are expected to average at least 9 degrees F above normal across the western half of the 48 states, reaching as high as 20 to 24 degrees F in central and northern sections of the Rockies and High Plains, as well as the central Intermountain West.
Odds favor below-median precipitation in the Southwest, central and southern sections of the Rockies and High Plains, most of the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley from South Dakota and central Minnesota southward to the Gulf Coast, and throughout the Nation east of the Mississippi River, save part of the northwestern Great Lakes Region.