Historic heat continues to worsen the extreme California/Great Basin/Southwest drought region. Longer-term, the anomalous heat and dryness is likely to focus on the Northwest States.

Rainfall required to neutralize dry Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) has increased in the Midwest States, Northeast region and the Southeast particularly Florida. Western deficits maintain their severe dry signatures. The North Dakota deficits eased last week.

A new concern area is evolving drought in Iowa. Soil moisture is in deficit for the northern 2/3 of the state. In June so far, soil moisture trend is much drier for Iowa and southern Minnesota of the western Corn Belt.

Assumed is that U.S. drought risk is the only significant dry regime influence on northern hemisphere crops for the summer 2021 season. Is that notion true? The second-most watched area is the Black Sea region. Late spring rains have doused marginal dry soils in Ukraine, Southwest Russia and Russia’s Southern District. Not far away an intense drought is occurring across Turkey. The eastern spring wheat region in Russia has shifted into drought.