SOUTHEAST — New drought numbers posted Thursday May 21 confirm that the severe and widespread drought gripping the Southeast United States remains largely unchanged, with most of the region holding at the same drought levels as last week and Florida showing only minimal improvement despite recent rainfall, as forecasters warn it is going to take a lot more rain to even things up across the drought-stricken corridor.
The updated drought map shows deep red and dark maroon extreme and exceptional drought coverage blanketing large portions of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida with no meaningful relief in sight for most areas.
100 Percent of Florida Remains Under Drought With 22 Percent in Exceptional D4 Drought
The Florida drought update table confirms that 100 percent of the state remains under some level of drought designation as of Thursday May 21, with 99.26 percent of Florida under D2 to D4 drought, 74.61 percent under the serious D3 to D4 category, and 22.26 percent of the state locked in the most extreme D4 exceptional drought designation.
While this represents a slight improvement from last week’s figures when 80.63 percent fell under D3 to D4 and 23.80 percent sat in D4, the improvement is described as minimal and insufficient given the depth and breadth of the drought conditions still affecting the overwhelming majority of the Florida peninsula.
Forecasters are blunt in their assessment that it is going to take significantly more rainfall than what has fallen recently to make a meaningful dent in Florida’s drought conditions across the state.
Southeast Drought Map Shows Widespread Extreme Conditions Across Carolinas Georgia and Virginia
Beyond Florida, the broader Southeast drought map updated Thursday May 21 shows deep red extreme drought coverage spread across large portions of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama, with the darkest maroon exceptional drought patches concentrated in the most severely impacted corridors across the region.
Most of the Southeast remains at the same drought level as the previous week, confirming that recent rainfall events have not delivered enough widespread and sustained precipitation to register meaningful drought improvements across the majority of the outlined affected states.
The scale and depth of the current Southeast drought means that even above normal rainfall over several weeks would be needed before drought conditions begin retreating across the most severely impacted portions of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida. Stay with GordonRamsayClub.com for the latest updates.
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