| 4/10/2026 | CO-LR-1238 | CO | Larimer |
Moderately Dry
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General Awareness
Fire
Plants & Wildlife
Relief, Response & Restrictions
Water Supply & Quality
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| The drought continues unabated. I have had to resort to a bout of unusual deep watering for this time of year to hopefully buffer against tree/shrub/perennial losses, as they have begun actively growing nearly a month early, and now that weather has become more normal and cooler than it was in the incredible heat of March and isn’t as likely to evapotranspire away as quickly. This year is not the year to plant ANYTHING new or transplant anything; my goal is to simply help gardens hang on until the drought abates. Watering restrictions are in place in many communities between Denver and Wyoming, though our ELCO water company so far only suggests restraints on watering. I feel guilty for doing any watering. But I figured deep watering once now and hopefully not again for weeks rather than shallow watering every 3x per week as I would do once my drip is turned on in mid May, so that I will be more likely to save plants already stressed, even some of my most drought tolerant native (and some nonnative xeric) plants. Amazingly, I am seeing some green winter wheat fields in our area. I have no clue how…. But it’s the one thing that held me back from clicking severely dry rather than moderately. It must be that those areas have received a bit more rain or snow than we have. But so far local lawns are brown. Flowering fruit trees like crabapples bloomed way ahead of normal and blooms aren’t lasting very long, likely due to wind desiccation, and it is much windier overall this year than what I think of as normal. Even our native plum blossoms disappeared because finches ate them all! This is a totally new behavior, which I suspect may be related to drought and associated lack of food resources overall. Reservoirs are very low and some wetlands appear very diminished (or even dry) in water levels. |
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| 4/10/2026 | CO-RG-2 | CO | Rio Grande |
Severely Dry
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Agriculture
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| My apologies for posting on an irregular basis.
Today marks 7 weeks without significant precipitation. The outlook, from the Division of Water Resources, is for the driest year in recorded history. The previous driest year was only 24 years ago in 2002. This century has been constant drought!
The daily recordings lend credence to that forecast. Ranchers are selling at least portions of their herds because there will not be enough to graze this summer. Farmers are planning to dry up land that would normally be irrigated.
The agricultural economy of 10% of Colorado's counties is n the brink of collapse! If it does, There will be difficult to maintain any other individual economy.
I could go on with the description of this drought but it is pointless and very depressing. |
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| 4/10/2026 | KS-LN-6 | KS | Linn |
Near Normal
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General Awareness
Fire
Plants & Wildlife
Water Supply & Quality
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| Conditions are improving from a rainfall perspective. Excessive heat late fall '25 and again in March 2026 really dried up available sub-soil moisture. Ponds were getting low again on the farm. Recent rains on 4/1-2 and last night 4/10 have helped with over 3" total for those two rain events. Current conditions are most likely "normal". It will take above average rain in April and May to get out of this drought which started in 2025. Right now things are looking good! Early songbird and shorebird migrations are well underway. Flycatchers are returning, swallows are showing up, and turkeys may have already gone through much of their breeding. This is early for turkeys and the heat of March likely prompted early breeding and bird migrations. Many of the buck deer were still carrying their antlers at the end of March. This is truly puzzling and my theory is that the lack of sustained cold this winter may have impacted deer shedding? Got me. Winter crops have recovered from the late frost in Feb. as well as from the recent rains. Everything is green - thank God! |
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| 4/10/2026 | MD-HW-44 | MD | Howard |
Near Normal
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General Awareness
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| No effect |
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| 4/10/2026 | MN-IS-45 | MN | Isanti |
Moderately Dry
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General Awareness
Fire
Plants & Wildlife
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| We were surprised to see us changed to normal this week on the DNR Drought Map. Perhaps normal if it were July, but not for this time of year. While we have received approximately 1” of liquid precipitation since April 1st, everything is dry and crunchy with no wet or muddy spots. The garden soil is dry and dusty even under the top layer. Sump pump would normally run this time of year but hasn’t run yet. Concerned about wildfires with the windy days we’re having, but several days of rain is in the forecast. First loon appeared on nearby lake this week! Daffodils and rhubarb are starting to peek out. |
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| 4/10/2026 | MN-SC-81 | MN | Scott |
Moderately Dry
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General Awareness
Agriculture
Plants & Wildlife
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| Soil remains too cool for planting but is showing dry conditions for the upper layers; this will impact gardens and the health and growth of lawns for our neighborhood |
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| 4/10/2026 | MO-PT-8 | MO | Platte |
Mildly Dry
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| After 2.03 inches of rain last night, I wanted to report NO RUNOFF. Fire risk is low due to wet surface, but anyone digging post holes know it dry below the surface. Grass growth is showing the effects of drought with slow growth. Fruit and nut trees appear to come through unscathed by hard freeze when dormancy had been broken already. Livestock doing well, hay feeding continues. |
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| 4/10/2026 | NY-AB-23 | NY | Albany |
Near Normal
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General Awareness
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| Starting these up again, I had well over an inch of rain the first 6 days of the moth. Not much after that but the combination of string wind, low humidity and sunshine dried the soil out quite a bit. I would call it near normal with dry and wet patches but no real mud.
On thr other hand, nearby estuaries are quite turgid and flowing vigorously. |
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| 4/10/2026 | NY-YT-8 | NY | Yates |
Moderately Wet
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General Awareness
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| Ground is soggy under foot. Some standing water in fields and roadside. |
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| 4/10/2026 | NC-WK-203 | NC | Wake |
Moderately Dry
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General Awareness
Fire
Plants & Wildlife
Water Supply & Quality
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| Rainfall for the week was just 0.13 inches for the week. Stream flow continued to fall and soils are very dry. The statewide open fire ban remains in place. |
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| 4/10/2026 | SC-SM-30 | SC | Sumter |
Moderately Dry
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| Early report due to out of town trip. Still Moderately Dry. US Drought Monitor has our area in. “D1 - Moderate Drought”. From the SC Forestry app: 34 wildfires across the state today. We were under a SC Forestry Red Flag Fire Alert yesterday for low humidity and breezy winds. Local roadside swamps and ditches dry or nearly so. 0.06” total rain this week, leaving us still pretty dry. On Monday the Wateree River was running 3/4 full or a little more, and clear. Hiking at Poinsett State Park today showed dry leaf litter with dry ground immediately underneath. Park lake’s spillway running lower. See attached pictures: on 28 March only a few rock tops are visible. Today (9 April) quite a few more rocks are visible. The difference is also evident on one of the small streams between 28 March and 9 April (see photos). Not many squirrels visible in the park today, but many bumblebees buzzing about. The dogwoods have lost most of their blossoms, but holly and laurel are blooming. Saw one armadillo rooting through the leaves. Resurrection Ferns all grey, dry and curled. At home the birds and squirrels are still visiting the feeders. The Baltimore Orioles seem to have all departed. Hopefully they’ll visit in the Upstate on their way north. From Data Explorer: Compared to NOAA normals, we’re down 3.09” for the month and 7.63” for the year. |
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| 4/10/2026 | TN-ML-6 | TN | Marshall |
Moderately Dry
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General Awareness
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| Having to provide water to animals on catch barrels. |
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