Though there was some improvement from Iowa into Illinois the south-central region showed deterioration across wide swaths of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.
Again this week we'll feature the change map, the current conditions map is available at the link.
From the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, August 20:
The experimental Drought Severity and Coverage Index (DSCI) was up 6 points to 171 on the 0 - 500 scale. This is the fourth consecutive weekly increase in the index but still a dramatic improvement from Spring and early Summer.
Week | None | D0-D4 | D1-D4 | D2-D4 | D3-D4 | D4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-18 | 23.79 | 76.21 | 52.70 | 29.87 | 10.60 | 1.35 | 171 |
| 2026-08-11 | 26.38 | 73.62 | 50.38 | 29.50 | 10.27 | 1.04 | 165 |
| 2026-08-04 | 29.05 | 70.95 | 48.54 | 28.57 | 9.51 | 0.95 | 159 |
| 2026-07-28 | 32.08 | 67.92 | 47.89 | 28.30 | 10.00 | 0.86 | 155 |
| 2026-07-21 | 34.76 | 65.24 | 45.77 | 29.14 | 10.71 | 0.93 | 152 |
| 2026-07-14 | 34.28 | 65.72 | 46.47 | 29.10 | 10.71 | 0.98 | 153 |
....MUCH MORE
