U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook for May 19 to Aug. 2011 (Text)

Following is the text of the U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook as released by the National Weather Service in Camp Springs, Maryland:

Latest Seasonal Assessment - A classic and very persistent La Nina precipitation pattern has dominated the country since Autumn 2010, resulting in broad areas of drought across the southern tier of states, in the southern half of the Plains, and along parts of the lower and middle Atlantic seaboard as of mid-May 2011. Extreme to exceptional drought covers most areas across the southern Rockies, the central and southern Plains, the immediate Gulf Coast, and the southernmost Atlantic seaboard. Drought has been most acute through Texas and the southern High Plains where many locations experienced the driest October through mid-May period on record, in some cases by wide margins. Frequently high wildfire danger, dramatic agricultural impacts, and increasing hydrologic concerns have been felt throughout these areas. Farther east, drought dates back more than a year in much of eastern Texas and Louisiana. However, an historic influx of water from the north wiped out any drought impacts in the large sections of southeastern Louisiana; specifically, in areas along and near rivers, across the region’s extensive marshland and natural levees, and through a large area east of the Atchafalaya River intentionally inundated to divert floodwaters away from the Baton Rouge to New Orleans corridor of the Mississippi River.