Northeast Russia, South Africa and Australian drought is strongest. Brazil turning drier.

Observations: Northeast Russia, South Africa and Australian drought is strongest. Brazil turning drier.

Fig. 1: The global soil moisture anomaly analysis provided by NOAA/CPC valid for August 2019 and annotated 3-month trend by Climate Impact Co.

Observational discussion: During the past 3 months across the globe there were 18 regions of drier soil moisture conditions compare to only 8 wetter regimes (Fig. 1). The most dramatic drought region right now is Northeast Russia. This zone has been historically dry most of 2019. Not far behind in intensity is a large drought area in west and south portions of South Africa spreading into southeast sections of the continent the past 2 months. The Australian drought worsened the past 3 months. Central Brazil and central/northeast Argentina trends drier, Central and northern Europe present patchy harsh drought areas. Finally, Mexico has trended drier while the Southwest U.S. is much drier and Central U.S. less wet. Western Canada is less dry while southern Alaska has rapidly trended much drier. The Hudson Bay region is also drier.