CPC: Southern Plains Drought to Expand
The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has issued its extended weather forecasts. The outlook for November calls for below-normal precip across the Central and Southern Plains, as well as the southern and eastern Corn Belt regions. Above-normal precip is expected across the central third of the nation.
As a result of extended dryness, the CPC expects drought to expand northward, covering the southern two-thirds of Kansas, as well as well-entrenched drought areas of Oklahoma and Texas. The Seasonal Drought Outlook calls for development of drought in central and southern Iowa, as well as in west-central Illinois.
"Across the southern tier of states and in the central Plains, drought is expected to persist and expand into adjacent areas. Except for wetness being favored in Colorado and northern New Mexico for the 6-10 day period, all tools are in remarkable concert, pointing toward drier than normal conditions," states the drought outlook. "Thus, this is a high confidence forecast. Farther north, both across North Carolina and in a swath from central Illinois through central Iowa, drought is also forecast to persist and expand slightly, though with less confidence, as the longer-term tools either barely favor drier than normal conditions or demonstrate no tilt of the odds in any direction. Moving farther to the north, some improvement is expected across northern Iowa and southern Minnesota while improvement is forecast in the drought areas in northern Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Forecast tools trend toward more favorable conditions as one moves north through the region."
Check the following links for maps of forecasts:
