Signs of Drought Easing

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We've written before about the serious drought with Kansas on the northeast edge that extends south into Texas and west to New Mexico.  Below is the percent of normal precipitation from the last 90 days.
Deep reds = greater dryness.

The Wall Street Journal has an article about the drought (subscription or Google search may be required to read article). The article does not speculate when the drought might ease. So, I've put together some forecasts that might be helpful.

The National Weather Service's quantitative precipitation forecast from now through 7pm Saturday shows helpful rain in much of Kansas.
Click to enlarge.

The even longer range forecasts are showing a slow improvement.  The 16-day computer forecast of 1 inch of rain or more run by the National Weather Service at 7am this morning shows helpful rains in part of the drought area.
Light green = 1 inch. Deep blue = 4". Light blue = six inches. 


The long range run from data at 1pm this afternoon shows even more rain farther south into the drought area.

It is impossible to know which of these, if either, is approximately correct. But, the trend in the models the last few days has been to bring rain into the drought areas with the exception of New Mexico.

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