Rain Free Weather Map Is Worrying

A very weird map. Forecast map for the United States today
shows virtually no rain anywhere in the Lower 48 

Weather headlines lately have been filled with stories of flooding and storms in the Southeast and Mid-South of the United States of late.  

No drought in those regions, but that's an exception.

As we head into spring,  though, worrying amounts of drought are spreading through much of the United States. 

Huge parts of the nation, mostly in the western half, are in drought. Of course, some eastern areas are dry, too. Like here in Vermont, as I've often mentioned lately. 

Dangerous wildfires are breaking out in weird places, like North Dakota. A small town in western North Dakota had to be evacuated Thursday as a wildfire raged through.

Elsewhere,wildfires are popping up out of season, like a blaze Thursday in Simi Valley, California. Fires in that state normally wait until summer and autumn to flare up. 

In California, winter rains were disappointing once again, which helps explains that recent fire. The snow pack in the Sierra Nevada mountains was just 59 percent of normal.

When there are storms in recent weeks, they keep mostly hitting places that really don't need the rain. 

Early April is very often a stormy time of year for the United States. Not this year. As you can see by the map in this post, there was virtually no rain in the forecast today (Friday) for the entire nation.  That is very weird any time of year, but especially in April, in my opinion. 

The outlook for the next week or two isn't exactly encouraging.  According to long range forecasts into the middle of April, below normal precipitation is expected in most of the nation, except of course the Southeast. 

There could yet be some rainy surprises on the horizon, but we still ought to be doing rain dances to be safe!