This allowed drought and dryness to continue slowly improving in part of southern and eastern Florida, especially south and east of Lake Okeechobee. Scattered patches of heavy rain were observed in the eastern Carolinas and the southern and eastern parts of the Florida Peninsula. The National Interagency Coordination Center reports almost 13,500 acres consumed by wildfires across roughly the northeastern quarter of the contiguous states during April 14 through 20. This prompted improvements over parts of the coastal DelMarVa Peninsula and the wetter areas of the Northeast and southern New England, but precipitation in many areas of these areas remains significantly below normal over the past 2 to 3 months, so improvement was not as widespread as might be expected.Ībnormal dryness (D0) expanded across southern and eastern Massachusetts, which missed out on the precipitation, and in parts of eastern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The largest amounts (3 to 4 inches) doused parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Moderate to heavy rains (1.5 inches or more) fell on areas of dryness and drought in southern New England and the adjacent Northeast, and over patches of the coastal mid-Atlantic Region. In contrast, the D3 to D4 areas in the rest of the Plains and the northwestern Florida Peninsula and recorded little or no precipitation, keeping extreme to exceptional drought in place with a few areas of deterioration, especially in central Nebraska and the northwestern Florida Peninsula.

Enough rain fell on some extant areas of dryness and drought here to improve drought designations, including parts of the D3 and D4 areas in central to southern Texas. Heavy precipitation fell on areas of dryness in the Northeast, the southern and northern Plains, the northern Rockies, northern Intermountain West, and Pacific Northwest, and more-scattered areas in the mid-Atlantic Region and Florida.

Waves 12 complete 2021