It has become a common theme over the last three weeks that the lack of precipitation for our area is starting show on many plants and tree do to drought stress.
Bob Coward, the co-host of the Garden Show on WBCK, talked about how the drought monitor for Michigan may not be entirely correct. While working on several projects over the past week, Bob said that the soil is almost a thin dust there needs to be a large turnaround to avoid severe drought conditions. If you see the map below from the U.S. Drought Monitor, the only improvement from moderate to abnormal drought (brown to yellow) were in areas that saw precipitation over the past week - the Northern Lower Peninsula and the southern border counties of Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe in the Southeast region. On top of that, the Battle Creek area has received just .41 inches of rain (not even a half-inch) through May 16
Recent rainfall and cooler temperatures have stopped the spread of extreme drought in North Dakota and eased the threat of wildfires, but dangerously dry conditions persist, according to new data released Thursday.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map shows 85% of North Dakota in extreme drought, the second-worst of four categories. That s unchanged from last week, after several weeks of increases in the percentage. Average temperatures for the week were mainly below normal (2 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit) with the greatest negative departures observed in the Dakotas,  Western Regional Climate Center Associate Research Scientist David Simeral wrote.
National Weather Service reports also show widespread rainfall in western North Dakota last Saturday. Totals included nearly an inch in the Dickinson area, about half an inch in Mandan and a little less than half an inch at the Bismarck airport.
Fire officials are bracing for the summer months as fuel moisture in vegetation continues to diminish
Fire officials are bracing for the summer months as fuel moisture in vegetation continues to diminish
and last updated 2021-05-13 11:13:00-04
Fire season is year-round in California, and coming out of winter and spring seasons that brought below seasonal rainfall amounts, firefighters across San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties are bracing for the summer months. Santa Barbara County has received, as stated, 47 percent annual rainfall from what we re normally used to, Santa Barbara County Fire Public Information Officer Daniel Bertucelli said.
According to Bertucelli, Santa Barbara County firefighters have already responded to multiple fires across the Santa Maria and Santa Ynez Valleys this year. While crews have been able to keep those fires small, as moisture in fuels diminishes the outcome could be different.
It’s another soaking wet month in New Orleans.
Eleven days into May, we’re on track to break the state’s record for the month, which was 21 inches in 1995.
The average for May is about 5 inches. Not even midway through the month, the city has already received nearly 8 inches of rain.
This is the third consecutive month of record-breaking rain in New Orleans, according to the National Weather Service office in Slidell.
The April average is also around 5 inches, and last month the city got about 13 inches. March saw the same trend: the average being around 5 inches, the actual amount this year being nearly 10 inches.
Latest federal drought map puts entire San Francisco Bay Area in extreme drought
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Drought Monitor map released Thursday, May 6, 2021, with data from May 4, 2021.United States Drought Monitor
A lot can happen in a week.
The latest version of the federal United States Drought Monitor map shows increasingly dire drought conditions throughout California and the entire San Francisco Bay Area region is in extreme drought. Last week, portions of the nine-county region including a large portion of Santa Clara County and parts of Alameda and San Mateo were still in the less critical severe drought.
The map classifies the level of dry conditions on a color-coded scale from abnormally dry (yellow) to exceptional drought (maroon). The May 6 map shows the most severe, exceptional conditions developing along the southern portion of the state s eastern border with Nevada and Arizona. Extreme drought (red) covers most of southern and northern California, an