The East, South, and Midwest: Former Hurricane Dennis doused the parched areas in the middle Atlantic region with 2 to locally 10 inches of rain. Surplus rains since early August have eliminated their agricultural drought and fire danger, and reduced hydrological drought to D2 level. For the last few days, streamflows averaged near normal for the first time this summer; however, most locations are still below normal since April 1, and deficits since July 1 1998 remain near one foot, so a few weeks of drier weather would allow conditions to reintensify. Elsewhere, generally 1 to 4 inches fell on parts of the southern Plains and adjacent Mississippi Valley since late August, halting the recent decline in conditions. In south Texas, rains from two tropical systems since mid August abetted short term relief, but reservoir storage shortages persisted along parts of the Rio Grande Valley. Meanwhile, drought worsened through most other areas in the East, Midwest, and South. In particular, several areas slipped into extreme drought (D3) from the Ohio Valley to the south Atlantic seaboard.

Outlook: The next 10 days should bring continued improvement to most of Virginia and North Carolina, where cooler and wetter than normal conditions are anticipated. The rest of the East Coast should see near normal rainfall. Farther west, more dryness is expected in the Ohio Valley and upper Southeast, including some areas now in extreme drought (D3).

The West: Seasonably dry weather prevailed, with significant rains since late August of 0.5 to 2.5 inches restricted to northern and east central parts of the region. The continuing borderline dryness (D0) allowed the active fire season to continue, with 34% of national burnt acreage this year occurring in the western Great Basin. In addition, agricultural drought (D1) continued in the interior Pacific Northwest, but rains and cool weather brought some improvement to the northwestern Rockies. Also, long term dryness continued to affect mainly leeward areas of Hawaii.

Outlook: Hot and dry weather for the next 10 days will probably increase wildfire activity and keep agricultural drought locked into the interior Northwest.