U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook for June 2 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. 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 May period on record, in some places 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 from much of eastern Texas and Louisiana eastward through northern Florida and southeastern Georgia even as an historic influx of water from the north flooded rivers and the extensive marshlands in parts of Louisiana.