| 4/30/2026 | AR-LW-2 | AR | Lawrence |
Severely Dry
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General Awareness
Agriculture
Business & Industry
Energy
Fire
Plants & Wildlife
Relief, Response & Restrictions
Society & Public Health
Tourism & Recreation
Water Supply & Quality
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| Rain for April was 2.86 inches which is about 2.20 inches short of normal. This is the 12th month we have been sort on rainfall. |
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| 4/30/2026 | CO-BO-583 | CO | Boulder |
Severely Dry
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General Awareness
Agriculture
Plants & Wildlife
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| SOIL MOISTURE:
6-inch depth- Temp = 51 F, Moisture = 200 cb
12-inch depth- Temp = 53 F
18-inch depth- Moisture = 200 cb
ET:
Month = 3.16 inches, Year-to-date = 8.73 inches |
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| 4/30/2026 | CO-EP-408 | CO | El Paso |
Near Normal
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General Awareness
Plants & Wildlife
Water Supply & Quality
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| Recent rain and light snow has helped. Silver maple tree has small leaves, aspens have leafed. Most rose bushes and shrubs are fully leafed. Overall plant conditions good. Nearby Cottonwood Creek still somewhat below normal flow, but should pick up now. |
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| 4/30/2026 | FL-MA-17 | FL | Manatee |
Moderately Dry
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General Awareness
Agriculture
Fire
Plants & Wildlife
Water Supply & Quality
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| The drought continues across central Florida and the rainfall remains below normal. This station had a whopping 1.47 inches of rain on the morning of April 7th. But no rain for more than 3 weeks after that. We are now 4 inches below normal for the year. And 10 inches below normal since Oct. The numbers remain bad but are not horrible and may improve slightly as significant rain is in the forecast for this weekend. |
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| 4/30/2026 | IL-WL-63 | IL | Will |
Near Normal
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Plants & Wildlife
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| All conditions on our property are normal for the end of April. Grass needs to be cut every three days, hedges are close to having a trim, and and plants are growing rapidly. |
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| 4/30/2026 | MI-SH-4 | MI | Schoolcraft |
Mildly Wet
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General Awareness
Agriculture
Plants & Wildlife
Tourism & Recreation
Water Supply & Quality
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| What was probably the last measurable snow of the season fell last night. April total only 1.8". Only a few stretches of roadside plow berm remain of winter snowpack. Local creek now well back within banks. Much standing water remains on 2-tracks and low areas in forest. April precip 5.67" 216% normal. Year-to-date 15.17" 191% normal.
Many seasonal residents have returned and camp owners have been able to drive back to their camps. Plenty of traffic. Local secondary road is in good shape. Many logging trucks on US 2. Plumbing and electrical businesses, tree experts seem busy. Stacks of potting soil bags etc. in front of many businesses. Local tree nursery still cannot pull spring stock because of frost in ground.
Green house producing lettuce and radishes.
First warblers have returned. A few bats leaving droppings beneath bat house. Snowshoe hares now all brown, even legs. Deer have been back for several weeks. I suspect significant winter mortality and roadkill occurred: they seem reduced in number. Peepers and wood frogs noisy on warmer nights. |
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| 4/30/2026 | NY-ST-54 | NY | Steuben |
Moderately Wet
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General Awareness
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| Wet month, nearly 5 1/2" of rain. Temps mostly on the warm side keeping the ground firm. Trees are mostly now leafed out, lilacs starting too bloom. Definitely on the early side. Local streams are high but no reports of significant flooding. |
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| 4/30/2026 | NY-WY-11 | NY | Wyoming |
Mildly Wet
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General Awareness
Agriculture
Plants & Wildlife
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| Cloudy and cool with light winds and rain, then cloudy and cold overnight with light winds. The high temperature was around fifty five degrees, and the low around thirty eight degrees Fahrenheit. Songbirds are eating a feederful every day. Jewelweed leaves, Dandelion flowers, violet flowers, Burdock leaves, Silver Maple leaves, Black Cherry leaves, Apple Treee buds, Dead Nettle flowers, Nettle leaves, Glecoma hederacea leaves, Serviceberry flowers, Bush Honeysuckle buds, Trillium flowers and Trout Lily flowers are appearing. The local intermittent stream and nearby trout stream are flowing at spring flood levels. Some manure is being spread, some pesticides being sprayed and fields being plowed. |
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| 4/30/2026 | NC-CM-42 | NC | Cumberland |
Severely Dry
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General Awareness
Plants & Wildlife
Water Supply & Quality
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| We have had a couple of light showers this past week, but not enough to put a dent in the drought. My yard is brown except for the weeds growing in it. The retention ponds near me are extremely low. |
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| 4/30/2026 | NC-WK-185 | NC | Wake |
Mildly Dry
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General Awareness
Plants & Wildlife
Water Supply & Quality
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| More exposed creek/pond shore and bottom have led to increased sightings of certain birds foraging among leaf pack, root wads and fresh detritus and a lot of turtles recently seen near pond/creek shores also. With > 95% confidence, the average of 21 daily TDS total dissolved solids) samples of tap water during April was higher than the average of 21 TDS measurements recorded daily during December 2025. |
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| 4/30/2026 | OK-GT-1 | OK | Grant |
Moderately Dry
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| Ponds are drying up and crops are withering. |
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| 4/30/2026 | TX-HYS-148 | TX | Hays |
Severely Dry
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General Awareness
Fire
Plants & Wildlife
Water Supply & Quality
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| I received 4.41" of rain during the month over 15 days. The flow in the Blanco River in Wimberley briefly recovered, but then fell back to record low flows for the 99-year period of record. Grasses are green. The burn ban is off. |
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| 4/30/2026 | VA-RNC-3 | VA | Roanoke (city) |
Moderately Dry
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General Awareness
Agriculture
Plants & Wildlife
Tourism & Recreation
Water Supply & Quality
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| April 2026 ends with station rainfall of 1.31" versus NOAA normal of 3.45" (38% of normal). The water year (Oct. 1-Apr. 30) deficit has increased to 8.76" (61% of normal). April marks eight consecutive months with below normal precipitation at this site (Sep25-Apr26). In addition, April ends in the top 5 of warmest Aprils on record at every 'first-order' climate site on the region and that followed a near record warm March.
The daily (4/29/26) mean flow for the USGS gage on the Roanoke River at Roanoke is at 165 cfs, now into the Below Normal (10-25 percentile) category but with a slight rise the past few days with our modest rainfall. The long-term mean daily flow at this gage for April 30 is 443 cfs. The cumulative flow (as of 4/30/26) since the start of the water year remains well below the 25th percentile of total flow for period. Carvins Cove local water supply reservoir (as of 4/30) was at -9.9 feet below full pond a -0.9 ft. drop in the past two weeks (76.0% of capacity,-2.1% decrease). The US Drought Monitor (USDM) map valid as of 4/28/26 showed nearly the entire state of Virginia in Severe Drought (D2). The last time a similar situation existed in April was in 2002, toward the end of multi-year historic drought in the region. The State of Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality issued a Drought Warning for most of the state on 4/17/26 with the exception of the far west and far southeast which remain in Drought Watch.
The NWS Climate Prediction Center (CPC) 6-10 and 8-14 day outlooks (as of 4/29/26) shows below normal temperatures and above normal rainfall at slightly higher probabilities of occurrence but only a weak signal on rain. The latest from CPC (4/27/26) says the La Niña has ended and ENSO Neutral conditions are now present in the tropical Pacific with a 3-month Relative Oceanic Niño Index (RONI) of -0.7 for the Jan-Feb-Mar 3-month period. Consensus forecasts continue to indicate a transition to an El Niño by mid-summer and CPC has issued an 'El Niño Watch', the impact on regional precipitation patterns remains unclear. Once again, I considered a decrease in Condition to Severely Dry but with nearly the entire warm season to go, there needs to be some way to depict a worsening situation. |
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