magnoliareporter.com has recorded 24.59 inches of rain in 2018.
According to the report, above normal temperatures and below normal rainfall were observed across much of Southwest Arkansas, Northeast Texas, and Southeast Oklahoma during the spring of 2018.
Rain was much below normal during May – normally one of the wettest months of the year across the region.
In fact, total rainfall since late April has ranged from 3 to 6 inches across much of East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, extreme Southern Arkansas, and Choctaw and southern McCurtain counties in Southeast Oklahoma — which is some 6 to 10 inches below normal.
As a result, severe (D2) drought conditions have developed across much of Northwest Louisiana, as well as areas in East Texas, and southern Miller, Lafayette, all of Columbia, and western Union Counties in Southwest Arkansas, and in Southeast Oklahoma.
Moderate (D1) drought conditions surround the existing severe drought areas across much of Northeast Texas, McCurtain County in Oklahoma, and Southwest Arkansas, along with several parishes in Northern Louisiana.
The NWS is predicting a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Friday, mainly before 1 p.m., with a temperature high near 90 degrees.
There is a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms for Friday night.
There is a 20 percent chance of rain for Saturday night.
There is a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms on Sunday, with a high near 95.

Dallas County, Mo.
"We run cattle, stock cows, we row crop quiet a bit of land, raise quiet a lot of hay, try to, the drought has taken care of some of that," Turner said.
Drought conditions in the Ozarks are getting worse, and it’s causing a high demand and high price for hay, leaving some farmers worried.
"Hay crops in this area for the most part, some of it down as much as half, some a little less, some a little more," Turner said.
Turner said he’s fortunate to have cut back on livestock and hopes he produced enough hay to get through the winter season but other farmers that need to buy hay are having a harder time.
"There is farmers around that buy all of their hay, they graze their ground, and don’t put up hay, and they buy all the hay that they feed," Turner said.
"It’s going to be really tough on them this time, more so than some of us that do both you know?
"If we can get some moisture, everything will chill out so to speak, everything will be good because it’s not too late yet."
Governor Mike Parson declared a drought alert for several counties in southwest Missouri.
Andy McCorkill is a Livestock Specialist, with the Dallas County University of Missouri Extension office.

The Drought Monitor updates each week with conditions for locations across the country.
Our highest stage is listed at Moderate Drought which has expanded now to include 2 additional major cities: Bay City and Saginaw.
This stage means: Some damage to crops and pastures is likely or occurring.
Streams, reservoirs, or wells may begin to show low levels.
We continue seeing some damage to crops in Mid-Michigan with multiple farms reporting losses in everything from sugar beets, to corn and wheat.
Christmas trees and apple trees are also seeing losses.
With dry conditions fire danger also remains a risk with high potential for fires to spread if brush is ignited.
Several communities remain under burn bans in these dry locations.
Avoid burning even small fires until we get meaningful soaking rainfall.
We need some good steady soakers in-order to rebound from the dry point we are at.

Southern Maine is actually experiencing a drought.
For the third straight year, parts of the state are experiencing dry conditions, although they’re not severe enough to prompt warnings about water restrictions or dry wells.
Auburn reported 1.3 inches of rain between 3:15 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
More rain is forecast for the Portland area Friday evening, Schroeter said.
But Thursday’s downpours weren’t enough to counter the drought conditions in southern Maine, Schroeter said.
The southern half of the state, and a strip across the far northern part, are either experiencing a moderate drought or abnormally dry conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
If so, the drought warning would be lifted, as it was this week in southern New England, which experienced dry or drought conditions in early July.
Maine has experienced summer droughts for the past three years.
Susan Faloon, spokeswoman for the state Emergency Management Agency, said the agency hasn’t received any formal reports of wells running dry, but some homeowners have said water levels in their wells are low.
Hawley said that he hasn’t heard any reports about farms having problems because of dry conditions.

My yard’s completely brown,” said Suzette Kuban, a McClatchy regional human resources employee who lives in far north Fort Worth.
But the biggest factor is rainfall amounts compared to normal.
This will be the hottest week in DFW in 2 years Worst is yet to come: Find out how hot DFW will get this weekend Current drought conditions Current drought conditions for Tarrant County and surrounding counties provided by the National Weather Service and U.S. Drought Monitor.
“It will lower temperatures to normal or even below normal, and we’ll have some showers and thunderstorms,” he said.
But don’t expect the rain to lift the area out of drought conditions, said Jason Godwin, also a National Weather Service meteorologist.
Forecasters are expecting about a half-inch of rain over the next week and less than two inches of rain in August, Godwin said.
After the below normal temperatures and the rain, expect more normal August temperatures in the mid-90s, Godwin said.
However, the drought conditions may persist into next year, he added.
By Christine Ramsey Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:45 Texas restaurant invites homeless, those with no A/C inside for cool air, cold water Advertisement Mary Perez of Enchiladas Ole, a small neighborhood restaurant, invited anyone with no home or A/C to sit inside for water and chips as temperatures climbed toward 110.
Enchiladas Ole was recently ranked by USA Today readers as one of Texas’ 10 best.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ore. — In Douglas County there’s an emergency drought order in place, and water restrictions have already started rolling out for farmers and ranchers.
Governor Kate Brown signed the order in June.
With drought conditions expected to get worse as we go through summer, the Oregon Water Resources Department has started their annual water restrictions, and Umpqua Basin Watermaster Susan Douthit said they’re doing so about three weeks earlier than usual.
“Because it is so dry this year and so extreme, we are regulating streams that may not be involved in allocations or water distributions on an annual basis,” Douthit said.
This affects the people with newer water rights first, then goes up the ladder as needed.
One farmer KEZI 9 News talked to, Sharon Hunsaker, said for the most part, those farmers and ranchers that pull their main source of water from those streams are used to this happening on an annual basis.
“I think people around here kind of plan on that anyway because the water around here usually does get shut off around the middle of July, or maybe even the beginning of July, sometimes,” Hunsaker said.
“I think we’re actually a little surprised we’re able to keep it on this long.” Douthit said there are other options for when these restrictions are put in place.
“There are drought permits, perhaps you can put in a well, and that might be an option for you,” Douthit said.
“Interestingly in Douglas County, there are two reservoirs that are available and still have water available for purchase.” Those reservoirs are the Ben Irving Reservoir in the Tenmile area and the Galesville Reservoir near Azalea.

Even though pop up showers have been a nice and refreshing change of pace for the Ozarks, it hasn’t been quite enough to relieve us from drought concerns.
So, companies like Hewitt-Messenger Well Drilling & Pump Service are working seven days a week creating and expanding wells for houses, irrigation systems and livestock ponds.
A process that can be expensive as water levels get low, especially if your system has a leak causing it to work overtime.
Richard Linebaugh, owner of Hewitt-Messenger Well Drilling & Pump Service said, "Just take a look at the plumbing for leaks.
A person can see a leak.
Also monitor your electric bill.
An increase in your electric bill without you knowing it a lot of times will end up being that there’s a leak somewhere and that pump is running continuously.
Along with keeping an eye out for leaks and doing your best to conserve water, it’s also recommended that you have a crew come out to look at your well every year.

JIQUILISCO, El Salvador (Reuters) – Encouraged by a good harvest last year, Maria de Jesus Lopez, a modest farmer, decided to boost her production of corn on the land she rents, but an unexpected drought in El Salvador has cost her the whole harvest.
Maria Jesus Lopez cuts corn plants to feed animals in a drought-affected farm near the town of San Marcos Lempa, El Salvador, July 25, 2018.
“We were not expecting this blow,” Lopez, 65, said in a rural area in the town of Jiquilisco, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of capital city San Salvador.
The lack of rain, she said, has cost her about $2,000 dollars.
Lopez is one of more than 77,000 corn farmers severely hurt by a month-long drought that has affected more than half the country and prompted the government to declare a “red alert” to distribute resources to victims.
Maria Jesus Lopez shows a corn ear in a drought-affected farm near the town of San Marcos Lempa, El Salvador, July 25, 2018.
REUTERS/Jose Cabezas “We are not going to harvest anything,” she said.
The drought has triggered the loss of 1.6 million bags of corn, a staple of the Salvadoran diet.
Central American experts predict that in the next three months the region will continue to see low levels of rain, prompting authorities to scramble for solutions.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Cattle has said that producers affected by the drought will receive aid to help them recover their crops, primarily corn.

MUZAFFARPUR: As several districts of Bihar are reeling under a drought-like situation due to the shortage of rainfall, it alleviated the farmers’ suffering.
As per reports, around 35 districts including Patna, Siwan, Aurangabad, Vaishali, Arwal, Bhojpur are facing the drought-like situation.
One of the farmers told ANI that they are facing difficulties in sowing crops as there is a scarcity of water.
"We are unable to sow crops.
This is for the first time that we have witnessed such situation.
There’s no water and we don’t have any option.
The Government is not helping us," the farmer said.
Earlier, the Bihar Government announced to give Rs.
50 per litre diesel subsidy to the farmers and other concessions, with 75 paisa per unit electricity in tube well in view of the drought.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will also convene a meeting of all concerned departments on July 31 to review the prevailing drought-like situation in the state.

The historic $2.7 billion of voter-approved bond money will go to elevating two Bay Area dams, at Los Vaqueros Reservoir near Livermore and Pacheco Reservoir east of Gilroy, as well as to the development of two much larger dams in the Central Valley.
Collectively, the projects would add about 4.3 million acre feet of water storage across the state, the equivalent of about a dozen of San Francisco’s Hetch Hetchy reservoirs.
Although the larger dams, at the proposed 13-mile-long Sites Reservoir along the Sacramento River and 18-mile-long Temperance Flat Reservoir on the San Joaquin River, are still well short of the money they need to get off the ground, the Bay Area projects are now close to moving forward.
“Getting the money is a greater step toward water reliability for the Bay Area region,” said Oliver Symonds, a spokesman for the Contra Costa Water District, which was allocated $459 million for the proposed $980 million expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir.
The reservoir, which holds water piped in from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, would grow by 70 percent, increasing its capacity to 275,000 acre-feet of water, enough to supply more than a half million households for a year.
With $485 million of Prop.
1 money, the Santa Clara Valley Water District plans to construct a new $969 million dam on Pacheco Creek in eastern Santa Clara County, in the footprint of a smaller dam.
The project would store 500,000 acre feet of water piped in from the nearby Sacramento River.
“But it’s a step in the right direction.” Watson said he is pursuing funding from other sources, including the many water agencies that would benefit from Sites, largely districts that provide water for farms.
1 funding for water storage is the most the state has allocated since construction of the State Water Project, which consists of 21 dams and hundreds of miles of canals, built largely in the 1960s.