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| Abnormally Dry Conditions |
| At times, below normal precipitation will lead to a lack of ground water and worsening drought conditions in Arkansas. Check out the latest conditions below. |
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Monitoring Drought in Arkansas |
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| Drought Status |
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| As of February 27th, 2013...a severe (D2) drought affected most areas west of Ashdown (Little River County), Clarksville (Johnson County) and Berryville (Carroll County). Farther east, while there were some D0/D1 conditions, there was no drought at all in half of the state. |
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| Drought has been a common theme in Arkansas since 2010. The southwest has fared the worst, with a four and a half foot (54.39 inches) rainfall deficit at Texarkana (Miller County) in a three year span. |
| Precipitation Statistics (2010-2012) |
| Site |
2012 |
+/- |
2011 |
+/- |
2010 |
+/- |
| Fayetteville (NW AR) |
34.29 |
-13.93 |
56.15 |
+9.82 |
42.15 |
-3.87 |
| Harrison (NC AR) |
29.53 |
-14.61 |
52.01 |
+7.87 |
46.12 |
+0.92 |
| Jonesboro (NE AR) |
33.57 |
-14.53 |
58.05 |
+9.95 |
32.22 |
-13.96 |
| Fort Smith (WC AR) |
33.94 |
-11.52 |
46.56 |
+1.10 |
35.27 |
-8.60 |
| Little Rock (C AR) |
42.25 |
-7.50 |
60.23 |
+10.48 |
36.52 |
-14.41 |
| West Memphis (EC AR) |
39.08 |
-13.15 |
55.95 |
+2.37 |
51.83 |
-0.97 |
| Texarkana (SW AR) |
32.07 |
-17.58 |
30.69 |
-18.96 |
29.53 |
-17.85 |
| El Dorado (SC AR) |
44.41 |
-8.51 |
37.62 |
-15.30 |
34.23 |
-19.88 |
| Pine Bluff (SE AR) |
45.69 |
-5.46 |
48.70 |
-2.45 |
31.97 |
-20.51 |
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There were some drought breakers along the way, such as a deluge from mid-November to mid-December, 2011.
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Twelve to more than eighteen inches of rain was measured from Mena (Polk County) to Mount Ida (Montgomery County), Russellville (Pope County), Little Rock (Pulaski County), Jonesboro (Craighead County) and West Memphis (Crittenden County). |
| In the picture: Thirty day rainfall through 600 am CST on 12/11/2011. |
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Hurricane Isaac brought much needed rain to southern and eastern Arkansas in late August, 2012. Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) had an 8.39 inch total in the forty eight hour period ending at 700 am CDT on September 1st.
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| In the picture: Hurricane Isaac was just off the coast of Louisiana at 425 pm CDT on 08/28/2012. |
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Unfortunately, these were temporary fixes to a long term problem. As 2013 began, there was still a drought in parts of the west. While the year was off to a wet start in places, it was uncertain whether enough precipitation would fall through May to end the drought.
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| In the picture: The drought outlook through May, 2013. |
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| Streamflow and Soil Moisture |
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