Heavy rainfall was observed across northern Missouri where severe thunderstorms produced widespread accumulations ranging from 3 to 5 inches as well as two isolated areas receiving 8 to 10 inches.
During the past 30 days, the region has experienced above normal precipitation with areas in southern Alabama and northern Florida receiving accumulations of 10 to 15 inches above normal for the period.
For the week, average temperatures were 2 to 5 degrees below normal across most of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina while Florida experienced temperatures 2 to 5 degrees above normal.
Midwest On this week’s map, some minor improvements were made in an areas of Abnormally Dry (D0) and Moderate Drought (D1) in north-central Missouri in response to heavy rains late last week.
Average temperatures for the week were generally a few degrees above normal in southern portions of the region while northern portions were slightly below normal.
The Plains On this week’s map, areas of Severe Drought (D2) and Extreme Drought (D3) expanded across eastern Montana, south-central North Dakota, and northwestern South Dakota where hot and dry conditions persisted.
In the southern Plains, areas of Abnormally Dry (D0) and Moderate Drought (D1) were reduced in eastern and southern portions of Oklahoma where heavy rainfall accumulations were observed with some localized accumulations in south-central Oklahoma ranging from 8 to 10 inches.
Across most of the region with exception of western portions of the Dakotas, average temperatures were slightly below normal (1 to 4 degrees).
On this week’s map, areas of Abnormally Dry (D0) were added in western Arizona, northwestern Colorado, southeastern Nevada, northeastern Utah, and southern Wyoming in response to above average temperatures (past 30 days), short-term dryness, and below normal soil moisture.
Moderate Drought D2 …

SCIENCE NEWS: The big ecological roles of small, natural features; Saving wild salmon all in a days work; Work on Yuba River’s Hammon Bar earns high honors; Calculating ‘old’ and ‘new’ runoff; and more ….
In science news this week: The big ecological roles of small, natural features; Saving wild salmon all in a days work; Work on Yuba River’s Hammon Bar earns high honors; Calculating ‘old’ and ‘new’ runoff; The (fishery-monitoring) cameras never blink; and This awesome periodic table tells you how to actually use all those elements The big ecological roles of small, natural features: “Ecologists and conservationists have long recognized that keystone species have major ecological importance disproportionate to their abundance or size.
Now an international group of researchers is exploring the disproportionate ecological importance of small natural features — unique environmental elements that provide significant ecological and economic impacts.
Ruth has been restoring salmon habitat in Northern California for more than 20 years.
… ” Read more from NOAA here: Saving wild salmon all in a days work Work on Yuba River’s Hammon Bar earns high honors: “Initially, a single, unassuming twig was observed rising from a sandy gravel beach at the lower Yuba River near Marysville earlier this year.
These carefully labeled samples will help tell the story of how the water moves during and after a rainstorm or snow melt.
Ross, a member of the Watershed Systems Research Program at the University of Manitoba, is measuring water flow in a part of the soil called the vadose zone.
Lucky for us, Keith Enevoldsen from elements.wlonk.com has come up with this awesome periodic table that gives you at least one example for every single element (except for those weird superheavy elements that don’t actually exist in nature).… ” Read more from Science Alert here: This awesome periodic table tells you how to actually use all those elements Maven’s XKCD Comic Pick of the Week … Sign up for daily email service and you’ll never miss a post!
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About Science News and Reports: This weekly feature, posted every Thursday, is a collection of the latest scientific research and reports with a focus on relevant issues to the Delta and to California water, although other issues such as climate change are sometimes included.

Dr. Shawn Acuna is a research specialist that works out of Metropolitan’s Sacramento office; he does a lot of work on multiple stressor issues in the Delta, as well as Delta smelt and longfin smelt.
“The trawl data showing that they are widely distributed throughout the habitat; they can also be found in the ocean as well,” he said.
“So what are we really interested in when it comes to this relationship is why are we seeing that step change, what is the relationship governing abundance and flow relationship, and what factors may be contributing to that decline?” Dr. Acuna then presented a heat map of salinity from 2008 (a dry year) and 1990 (a wet year) which shows the difference in the salinity field when there is more fresh water; he noted that there is a lot more blue in the higher flow years than in the low flow years.
“What we’ve been seeing over the years in sampling from 2013, 2014, as well as in 2017, spawning seems to be happening in brackish water.
Especially since the wet years tend to correlate with higher abundance, we’re going to get a lot bigger signal, understand the distribution in the water column a lot better, so we’ll be doing trawls that allow us to understand at what depths these longfin are at.” They’ve been investing in the “smelt cam”, which is attached to the trawl, and as the fish travel through the apparatus, a photo is taken.
… And it can be used for adaptive management because this data can be fed into models, allow us to do these predictions, run the study, implement it, and do it again, and that will help us further our efforts along the way.” In summary … “The importance of our research is that our findings have found that a lot of the longfin smelt are spawning in brackish water, a lot more than had been previously thought,” Dr. Acuna said.
It does have more dependence on more local flows; Delta outflow will have an effect, but more local flows will also be key.” “How the fish behave in the water and where are they are in that water column is going to be important for understanding that survey data.
It doesn’t mean that it won’t happen, it’s just under these really high flow years, it’s possible.
Once the state takes that action, it would then issue a project order that approves the project as a component of the State Water Project, so that’s a decision that’s related to the state’s Environmental Impact Report and the California Environmental Quality Act.” After the environmental impact report is approved, there is a water code section 2081 permit that is issued by the Department of Fish and Wildlife that covers the state listed species: salmon, longfin smelt, Delta smelt.
Because you can’t have it so that ‘I only get water through the dual conveyance and I’m not going to get water through the tunnel’; I just don’t envision how that’s going to work.” Steve Arakawa said, “The way the contractors have been talking about Cal Water Fix is that it’s an integral part of the existing State Water Project, so it would be an added facility to the State Water Project and it would be up to DWR to operate that whole system, so there’s not Cal Water Fix water and then State Water Project water.”

Editorial: Drought threat looms over Nebraska.
It’s a familiar part of the climatic cycle in our part of the country.
This year, drought has returned just to our north, with severe conditions afflicting much of the Dakotas and Montana.
“Only 9 percent of South Dakota is not suffering from drought,” U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing last week.
“If they are making it, they are making it day to day right now, and they don’t know how they are going to make it to the winter.” Recent cattle sales in those drought-stricken states have skyrocketed.
In response, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has authorized emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program lands set aside for ecological protection.
This means hay donations are allowed from producers throughout Nebraska’s Sand Hills.
Still, a survey of nearly 5,000 wells statewide by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Conservation and Survey Division found that water stress returned in 2016 to some areas of central and western Nebraska.
Whatever lies ahead, Nebraskans can always benefit by being prepared for the return of drought, whether the dire conditions strike only part of the state or its entirety.
That proactive mindset can help a cattle or row-crop producer in managing an agricultural operation, as well as helping a business or household in handling its water use.

Drought risk could rise with temperatures.
1 / 3 FARGO—Much of eastern North Dakota has endured abnormally dry weather but has escaped drought conditions.
Over the past 90 days, Fargo has received 52 percent of normal rainfall, according to the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network.
Lawns that are just starting to parch could quickly turn brown if the forecast, which calls for highs in the 90s later this week and little chance of rain, holds.
Hotter air can hold more water, drawing moisture from soils and plants, said Adnan Akyuz, North Dakota’s state climatologist.
He added: "The plants are going to lose water fast," assuming temperatures linger in the upper 80s and low 90s, as predicted.
Almost the entire state—99.98 percent—is at least abnormally dry, and two-thirds of the state is in at least moderate drought, while 46.9 percent is in extreme drought.
Ross, west of Minot, has received only 26 percent of normal rainfall, 1.93 inches, over the past three months, according to NDAWN figures.
At the other end of the scale, areas of the northern Red River Valley have received above-normal rainfall.
Grand Forks, where 8.58 inches of rain has fallen in the past three months, is at 117 percent of normal precipitation.

Persistent Heat Wave Will Intensify Nation’s Worst Current Drought in Dakotas, Montana.
Known as a flash drought for its relatively rapid development, this northern Plains drought developed quickly by late May over a sizable swath of eastern Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Local ranchers and farmers told KRTV-TV this is the worst drought in northeast Montana since 1988.
"There are some areas of western North Dakota into Montana that haven’t had good rain going on three months, other than isolated spots," Daryl Ritchison, executive director of the North Dakota Agricultural Weather System, told the Williston Herald.
Some farmers in McIntosh County, North Dakota, resorted to "hauling water" and some pastures had "zero growth," according to the June 27 U.S. national drought summary.
Therefore, highs well into the 90s or low 100s are likely to persist in the northern High Plains drought area, as well as lower elevations of the northern Rockies and Great Basin, not to mention parts of the southern Canadian prairie.
(MAPS: 10-Day U.S. Forecast Highs/Lows) Billings, Montana, may see several triple-digit highs through at least next week, a threshold the city hasn’t crossed in almost three years.
Little Rain Relief, Either While the chance of rain isn’t zero in the drought-suffering northern High Plains, the kind of soaking, mid-summer thunderstorm complexes don’t appear to be in the cards, either, into at least early next week.
Isolated or scattered thunderstorms may ignite during the heat of the day in a few areas of the High Plains and, especially, over the mountains.
Given the parched soil, these hit-or-miss thunderstorms could ignite wildfires if accompanied by lightning, instead of soaking the ground.

Vinegar—A New Way for Crops to Fight Drought?.
We all know vinegar is a home and garden all-star.
Normally, plants like to break down sugars, but in times of drought, they switch to acetate.
But a team of researchers from RIKEN, a research institute in Japan, have just published a study that indicates vinegar could add another serve another purpose: drought-fighter.
Vinegar, the study finds, might actually help plants survive in drought-like conditions.
This led them to a discovery: plants have a switch that decides how they produce energy.
Normally, plants like to break down sugars, but in times of drought, they switch to acetate.
And plants that produce more acetate are able to deal with drought more easily.
The researchers set up an experiment, growing plants in simulated drought conditions and treating them with either vinegar or water.
To battle droughts, some scientists have experimented with naturally drought-resistant plants like pomegranate, while others are genetically modifying existing crops to stand up in times of less water.

Ways To Conserve Water During A Drought.
With just over 2% of South Dakota in a severe drought and nearly 91% of the state underneath abnormally dry conditions… what can you do at home to conserve water at home?
Starting in May, the drought conditions started to turn worse with little soaking rain falling across northern parts of the Missouri River Valley; from the 28th of May to the latest data on June 27th, the, roughly, 30% of South Dakota that was abnormally dry increased to nearly 91% while the 0% that was underneath severe drought conditions climbed to nearly 32%.
Along with washing machines as well as toilets, showers are the biggest water users in the household so limiting your shower time can help save a lot of water.
Toilets have changed over the last couple of years and now there’s HET’s or High Efficiency Toilets which are available to help you conserve water!
Ranging from upwards to 7 gallons of water to 3.5 gallons, older toilets use lots of water each time you flush.
So what can you do to make sure you’re cutting back on the gallons you use per flush?
Whether you have a newer toilet or an older one, you can check to make sure you have stopped any leaks.
At the set GPF of 1.6 gallons, at 5 flushes a day, the average person per year flushes nearly 3000 gallons of water.
Most laundry machines have changed like toilets to become more efficient when it comes to water usage.

Wars of the ‘noses’: drought threatens Rome’s eternal drinking fountains.
Baking summer heat has forced Rome to close some of the drinking fountains known as "big noses", or "nasoni", that constantly gush fresh water on thousands of street corners, causing a public outcry.
Hit by the soaring temperatures drying out southern Europe, the Italian capital has started turning off up to 30 of the 2,800 distinctive curved metal taps every day, dismaying Romans and prompting concerns homeless people would become dehydrated.
Brandishing a plastic bottle in the central Piazza Venezia, city resident Carmelo Teti asked, "How can you take away fresh water from tourists who walk and want to refresh themselves?"
"When I go around I fill up this bottle with water because to buy mineral water costs and I cannot afford it," he said.
In a letter to Rome’s mayor, Virginia Raggi, water company Acea blamed the "exceptional drought" for the temporary measure and said: "We are absolutely aware of the inconvenience that might be caused."
The company said it was committed to replacing and fixing the city’s decayed and ruptured pipes, which according to consumer group Codacons leak 40 percent of the water they carry.
Part of the plan is also to help limit the amount of water taken from picturesque nearby Lake Bracciano, whose sinking surface level has prompted a local campaign to protect it.
The Committee for the Defence of Lake Bracciano was critical, saying: "You won’t save Lake Bracciano by leaving Rome’s homeless thirsty," echoing a warning from the Red Cross.
(Reporting by Gabriele Pileri and Isla Binnie; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Duniya and Muftah.
Muftah and Duniya.
Since rains first failed to fall in this eastern region of Ethiopia in early 2016, drought has disrupted life in ways seismic enough to register – if barely – on the Richter scale of global disasters.
Aid groups and Ethiopia’s government have warned that food aid may run dry as soon as mid-July.
For Duniya and Muftah, the future should have been set.
In six months, they were all gone – the entire life savings of his family withered to nothing.
“I knew then that we could not get married anymore,” Duniya says.
And without the wedding, there could be no life together.
Their livestock had died, too, so there was little to keep them at home, and anyway, they had family members near the road.
But he had his family and she had hers, and that was that.