Holiday Storms Have Limited Impact on Drought

Holiday storms that pounded much of the U.S. with snow and rain did little to ease the overall grip of the country’s worst drought in decades.

The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday shows that about 61 percent of the continental U.S. remained in some form of drought as of Tuesday, down less than a percentage point from the previous week. That number has been above 60 percent largely since July.

More than 21 percent of the lower 48 states are in extreme or exceptional drought, the two worst categories. That’s down slightly from the previous week.

All of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota are in drought. But some areas in the Southeast are emerging from drought after heavy rains since Christmas Day.