Ice storm had one positive affect—it eased Oklahoma’s drought

 

Yes, the ice storm last week pounded the state of Oklahoma but it certainly helped ease the state’s drought as indicated on the latest U.S. Drought Monitor.

” All this great improvement is a result of the powerful winter storm that thrashed the state last week,” wrote Gary McManus, State Climatologist with the Oklahoma Mesonet.

In his Thursday Mesonet update, he explained, “One of the least NASTY things about winter storms is the precipitation that falls tends to sit on the surface and melt, allowing it to slowly percolate into the soils.”

As a result, the Drought Monitor reflected improvements in areas of Western Oklahoma. Abnormally dry improved from 52% the previous week to 26% after the storm.

“The 10.65% of the state left in drought is a 28% improvement from the map just two weeks ago, when much of the northwestern half of the state was headed towards full-on drought,” said McManus.
The area of the state where there is “severe” drought went from 16% to 5% while the “extreme” drought area improved from 4% to 1.4%.