BLAKE NICHOLSON
Bismarck Tribune
Drought conditions in North Dakota haven't improved over the past week, but they haven't worsened, either.
This week's U.S. Drought Monitor map, published Thursday, shows conditions unchanged from the previous week -- a little under 18% of North Dakota in exceptional drought, the worst of four categories. Extreme drought covers 59% of the state, and all of the state except for the extreme southeastern corner remains in some form of drought.
Wetter, cooler weather in the region stopped the spread of drought, according to National Drought Mitigation Center Climatologist Brian Fuchs.
"Temperatures were 4-6 degrees below normal, with even greater departures in the Dakotas, where some areas were 8-10 degrees below normal for the week," he wrote. "Much of eastern Colorado, southern Nebraska, Kansas and northwest South Dakota into southwest North Dakota received well over 150% of normal precipitation for the week."