US Drought: 3rd Highest Severe-Extreme % on Record
Dec 28, 2012 10:14:12 GMT -5
Post by popcorn on Dec 28, 2012 10:14:12 GMT -5
U.S. Drought: Third Highest Severe to Extreme Percentage on Record 
Extreme and exceptional drought, the worst categories on the U.S. Drought Monitor, are on the rise again.
The graphic above from meteorologist Matt Sitkowski at the The Weather Channel shows this with the peak occurring back in August followed by a decline in the fall and now a rising percentage as we close out the year. When just examining the worst category "exceptional drought", the United States will end the year with its highest percentage in this category so far in 2012.
To provide a little more perspective, we can compare the current status of the drought to others in past history dating back to 1895 using another measure called the Palmer Drought index from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
At the end of November, the areal extent of the drought rated severe to extreme was at 44.8 percent. This is the highest extent so far this year and the third highest overall according to weather.com meteorologist Nick Wiltgen. Only the peaks from 1934 (July) and 1954 (September) had a higher percentage than the 2012 drought in their respective years.
Many of the peaks in the top 10 throughout history have been during the warm season. However, this is now the third time the peak drought extent in the severe to extreme categories has occurred in December.
read more:
www.weather.com/news/drought/drought-coverage-rising-20121227
Extreme and exceptional drought, the worst categories on the U.S. Drought Monitor, are on the rise again.
The graphic above from meteorologist Matt Sitkowski at the The Weather Channel shows this with the peak occurring back in August followed by a decline in the fall and now a rising percentage as we close out the year. When just examining the worst category "exceptional drought", the United States will end the year with its highest percentage in this category so far in 2012.
To provide a little more perspective, we can compare the current status of the drought to others in past history dating back to 1895 using another measure called the Palmer Drought index from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
At the end of November, the areal extent of the drought rated severe to extreme was at 44.8 percent. This is the highest extent so far this year and the third highest overall according to weather.com meteorologist Nick Wiltgen. Only the peaks from 1934 (July) and 1954 (September) had a higher percentage than the 2012 drought in their respective years.
Many of the peaks in the top 10 throughout history have been during the warm season. However, this is now the third time the peak drought extent in the severe to extreme categories has occurred in December.
read more:
www.weather.com/news/drought/drought-coverage-rising-20121227
