From staff reports According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor Report, during the late week and weekend, a large severe weather outbreak brought large hail, damaging winds and numerous intense tornadoes to parts of the central and southern Great Plains and Midwest. The storm systems responsible for the severe weather outbreak also brought widespread moderate and heavy rain amounts to the central U.S., leading to widespread improvements in drought and abnormally dry conditions. To the southwest of the heavy rainfall, in northwest Oklahoma and southwest and central Kansas, severe drought expanded as flash drought continued to take hold during a very dry late winter and early-mid spring, leading to reports of very poor wheat conditions and dust storms. Conditions mostly remained unchanged in the western U.S., though a few improvements occurred in Colorado and Utah after recent precipitation, while conditions worsened in parts of southeast Montana and the Black Hills region of South Dakota and adjacent northeast Wyoming amid recent dry weather.
In the Southern Plains, weather conditions varied widely across the South region this week, with heavy rain falling in parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, while other areas were left mostly or completely dry. Temperatures were mostly warmer than normal across the region, especially in Oklahoma and Texas, where weekly readings came in 4-8 degrees above normal, with a few local readings even warmer than that. A few spots in central Texas and the Trans-Pecos region saw improvements to drought or abnormally dry conditions after recent rainfall. In eastern and parts of northern Oklahoma, recent heavy rainfall led to improving conditions. Flash drought continued to worsen in parts of northwest Oklahoma and adjacent portions of theTexas and Oklahoma panhandles, where severe drought expanded amid quickly drying soils and growing short-term precipitation deficits.