National Current Conditions... March 26th thru April 1st
For the 12th week in a row, drought expanded in the Southwest. The Carolinas and Virginia saw drought worsen too. Overall, however, it was a wet week. The Midwest, Southern Plains, and parts of the West improved.
As of April 1, 2025, 36.32% of the U.S. and Puerto Rico and 43.37% of the lower 48 states are in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
This Week's Drought Summary…
This U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) week saw improvement in drought-related conditions across areas of the Intermountain West, High Plains, South, Upper Midwest, and Southeast. Meanwhile, conditions degraded on the map in the Southwest, Lower Midwest, and the Mid-Atlantic. Out West, a series of Pacific storms delivered significant rainfall to the lower elevation coastal areas and heavy mountain snow in the Klamath Mountains, Cascades, and Sierra Nevada ranges, as well as to the higher elevations of the Great Basin and the central and northern Rocky Mountains. In the coast ranges of Northern California, 7-day rainfall totals exceeded 10+ inches in some areas, according to preliminary data from the National Weather Service (NWS) California-Nevada River Forecast Center. The series of storms provided a late-season boost to mountain snowpack levels including in California, where the statewide snowpack (April 1) was 96% of normal, according to the California Department of Water Resources. In the Southwest, drought expanded and intensified across areas of southeastern and northeastern Arizona, northeastern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado, where snowpack levels are below normal in the San Juan and Sangre de Cristo ranges. In the South, southern Texas received record-breaking rainfall (12+ inches) leading to widespread improvements in drought-related conditions. In the Upper Midwest, an ice storm impacted northeastern Wisconsin and northern Michigan, leading to widespread power outages. Precipitation from the storm event led to improvements on the map in those areas. In parts of the Northeast, some improvements occurred in response to a combination of factors, including normal to above-normal precipitation (past 30-60 days), increased streamflows, and some recovery in groundwater levels. In the Southeast, short-term dryness expanded areas of drought from North Carolina to Georgia, while Florida saw some minor improvement in drought conditions in response to recent rainfall events.
In terms of reservoir storage in areas of the West, California’s reservoirs continue to be at or above historical averages for the date (April 1), with the state’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville, at 113% and 121% of average, respectively. In the Southwest, as of March 31, Lake Powell is 32% full (55% of typical storage level), Lake Mead is 34% full (54% of average), and the total Lower Colorado system is 41% full (compared to 42% full at the same time last year), according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. In Arizona, the Salt River Project is reporting the Salt River system reservoirs 72% full, the Verde River system 53% full, and the total reservoir system 70% full (compared to 89% full one year ago). In New Mexico, the state’s largest reservoir along the Rio Grande is currently 14% full (30% of average). In the Pacific Northwest, Washington’s Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake is 81% full (148% of average for the date), Idaho’s American Falls Reservoir on the Snake River is 96% full (108% of average), and Hungry Horse Reservoir in northwestern Montana is 72% full (108% of average).
