Weather.com - 1/25/13, Daniel Yawitz
Current Snow Cover
The total extent of the persistent national drought receded slightly during the past week, but in many places, conditions look no better now than they did when winter began. In particular, thin snow cover in some Western states is raising concerns that the drought’s impacts in some of the hardest-hit regions will only worsen when temperatures increase and evaporation rates rise in the spring.
Between January 15-22, the amount of land in the lower 48 states experiencing drought conditions shrank slightly, from 58.87 percent to 57.64 percent, thanks largely to precipitation that brought relief to parts of the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Southeast. Some of that fell in the form of snow, particularly in parts of Virginia. This marked the 31st straight week in which more than half of the continental U.S. was considered under “moderate” drought conditions or worse by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
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