An excessive rainfall episode reminiscent of “Harvey” in 2017 steadily emerged over east and north Texas, Oklahoma, and into Louisiana and Arkansas throughout the past week. Rainfall amount in the 10-20 in. range is common in-between Houston and south of Dallas with peak amount (as of dawn yesterday) at Groveton, TX where 23.56 in. of rain was observed.

During the past 14 days, temperature forecast bias for the 16-30-day period was markedly less cool using the ECM vs. CFS V2 (model). The CFS V2 forecasts have averaged nearly 5F too cool from Nebraska to Virginia. ECM also produced better Western Canada forecasts.

During April, particularly late in the month, extreme heat was observed across parts of India to Southeast Asia with extremes ranging from 111F to 119F and featuring all-time records. The extreme heat occurred across an intensifying drought zone.