[Excerpts from Jan. 21 NOAA News Item]
A thin snow pack is raising concerns that stream flows and water supplies will be low for the spring and summer in several Western states, forecasters at the NOAA National Weather Service said today.

In its latest drought assessment, the NOAA Climate Prediction Center said severe drought continues over most of the interior Western states and the central and northern Plains. Conditions ranging from abnormal dryness to moderate drought extend across the Midwest from western Missouri to the Great Lakes. Forecasters added that precipitation is plentiful across the South and Northeast, although drought persists in northern Maine.

“The dryness in the Midwest is expected to continue during the next several months, although lake-effect snows will bring local improvement,” said Douglas Lecomte, a NOAA climatologist. “Rain or snow should bring improvement from the Southwest into the central Plains, while little significant change in the drought situation can be expected across the northern Plains and northern and central Rockies,” he added.

Lecomte said the latest outlook raises concern that “serious water shortages” could occur this spring and summer in parts of the northern Rockies and northern Plains, if precipitation continues to be below normal.

NOAA News Story

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