Pro Farmer Editors

According to NOAA's Drought Monitor, strong, early-spring storm brought a variety of weather conditions to the nation’s mid-section from March 22-24.  Blizzard conditions engulfed the High Plains from eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska into the western Dakotas, while severe thunderstorms raked portions of the east-central and southeastern Plains.  More than a dozen tornadoes were spotted on March 23 from the middle Missouri Valley southward into Oklahoma.

Abnormal dryness (D0) was eliminated from western North Dakota, where snowfall totals of 1 to 2 feet were observed. The coverage of D0 was reduced in some snow-affected areas, including central and east-central Wyoming. However, the storm brought little or no precipitation to the central and southern High Plains, where pastures, rangeland, and winter grains continued to suffer. Moderate drought (D1) was introduced across much of eastern New Mexico and west-central Texas, and expanded in southeastern Colorado. Severe drought (D2) was expanded slightly in western Oklahoma, while abnormal dryness (D0) was lifted northward to near the Kansas-Nebraska border. 

Looking ahead, NOAA says for the remainder of the week, a major spring storm system crossing the U.S. will produce heavy snow in the central and southern Rockies on March 26-27 and the southern Plains on March 27-28.  Snowfall accumulations in excess of 8 inches may occur from the Rockies of Colorado and New Mexico southeastward into parts of Oklahoma and Texas’ northern panhandle. Farther east, torrential rainfall could result in March 26-30 rainfall totals as high as 3 to 9 inches from the lower Mississippi Valley to the southern Appalachians. Severe thunderstorms, bearing high winds, large hail, and isolated tornadoes, could accompany the Southeastern downpours. Meanwhile, as much as 1 to 2 inches of rain will fall from the Ohio and middle Mississippi Valleys into the Northeast. Elsewhere, mostly dry conditions will persist through March 30 in southern Florida and from California to the lower Rio Grande Valley, while cool, showery weather will persist in the northern Rockies and the Pacific Northwest.

The CPC 6- to 10-day forecast for March 31 – April 4 calls for cooler-than-normal weather across the western half of the U.S., while near- to above-normal temperatures will prevail in the East. Meanwhile, above-normal precipitation from the Pacific Northwest to the upper Great Lakes region will contrast with drier-than-normal conditions from California to the southern Plains.