The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has issued its extended weather forecasts. The outlook for November calls for above-normal temps across the western Corn Belt, Central and Southern Plains and Four-Corners Region, while most other areas see equal chances for below-, normal and above-normal temps. The forecast also calls for below-normal precip across the central Corn Belt, including all of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri, as well as surrounding areas.
The CPC’s outlook for November through January is similar, although the area of below-normal precip shrinks slightly to include “just” Minnesota, Iowa, most of Missouri, eastern Nebraska and the eastern half of Kansas.
As a result of the forecast and the current soil moisture profile, CPC signals in its Seasonal Drought Outlook that drought will likely persist in the western Corn Belt and across the Plains, as well as most areas west of the Rocky Mountains. However, some drought improvement is expected in the eastern Corn Belt.
“Persistence of exceptional drought areas is anticipated across the Plains states, where the late fall and early winter are climatologically dry and provide little opportunity for sustained relief. Further east, near term rainfall may bring some additional relief to the upper Midwest and Mississippi Valleys ahead of a drier winter forecast, while prospects for significant drought relief in Texas are less certain with a borderline El Niño event,” states the drought outlook.
Check the following links for maps of forecasts:
