- Monsoon storms brought drought relief to much of Arizona and western New Mexico.
- Drought worsened in eastern New Mexico, Utah and southern California.
- Parts of Colorado and Wyoming are seeing water storage impacts tied to limited spring snow cover.
- More monsoon moisture is forecast for Arizona, Utah and parts of the northern Rockies.
Saturday, August 29, 2026 –– Across the United States, drought conditions shifted sharply during the final full week of August, as rainfall brought improvement to some regions while extreme heat and dry weather caused conditions to deteriorate rapidly elsewhere.
The U.S. Drought Monitor report
released August 27 described widespread late-summer heat across the West and south-central United States. Meanwhile, storms brought locally heavy rainfall to portions of the central and eastern parts of the country.
Some of the most dramatic deterioration occurred in the South, where persistent heat and mostly dry weather fueled rapid drought expansion. Maximum temperatures topped 100 degrees across nearly the entire region except Tennessee, with temperatures exceeding 110 degrees near the Texas-Oklahoma border.
Across the West, the picture was more complicated.
Monsoon storms continued to provide pockets of drought relief in parts of the Southwest. But persistent heat and seasonal dryness increased pressure on water supplies elsewhere, including portions of the Colorado River Basin.
Monsoon Helps Arizona and Western New Mexico.
Arizona and western New Mexico were among the brighter spots in the latest report.
An active monsoon pattern continued to bring localized drought relief to the region. The U.S. Drought Monitor reported improvement across much of Arizona and western New Mexico as monsoonal thunderstorms continued.
That relief was not shared across all of New Mexico.
Persistent heat and dry conditions caused drought to expand across eastern New Mexico.
The contrast illustrates how dramatically drought conditions can differ across relatively short distances during the summer monsoon. Areas receiving repeated thunderstorms can improve while nearby locations that miss those storms continue to dry out.
Heat Adds Pressure Across the West.
Elsewhere in the West, seasonal dryness combined with persistent above-normal temperatures to increase demand on water resources.
The U.S. Drought Monitor reported localized deterioration across much of the Great Basin and other portions of the West.
Small areas of Utah deteriorated during the week. Drought conditions also worsened in portions of the southern California deserts.
Farther north, extreme drought expanded slightly across southern Oregon and northern Washington, where soil moisture and groundwater levels remained critically poor. Extreme to exceptional drought also expanded into northeastern Idaho.
Colorado and Wyoming See Storage Impacts.
Conditions were mixed across Colorado.
Dry weather and excessive heat worsened drought in southeastern Colorado, aggravating agricultural impacts. At the same time, widespread thunderstorms brought drought relief to areas east of the Front Range.
The situation was different in the mountains.
The U.S. Drought Monitor reported some deterioration in the Rockies of Colorado and Wyoming, where water storage impacts from limited snow cover last spring are beginning to mount.
That makes the mountain conditions particularly notable from a water-supply perspective. The report specifically connects the emerging storage impacts with the limited snow cover experienced during the spring.
A Basin Divided Between Relief and Deterioration.
Taken together, the seven Colorado River Basin states entered late August with sharply varying conditions.
Monsoon activity was providing drought relief across much of Arizona and western New Mexico. Eastern New Mexico was moving in the opposite direction as heat and dryness caused drought to expand.
Small portions of Utah and the southern California deserts also deteriorated, while Colorado experienced both improvement and worsening conditions depending on location. In the Rockies of Colorado and Wyoming, water storage impacts associated with limited spring snow cover were beginning to appear.
The U.S. Drought Monitor did not describe one uniform drought trend across the Colorado River Basin. Instead, conditions varied substantially depending on rainfall, temperature and location.
More Monsoon Moisture in the Forecast.
The outlook contained the possibility of additional relief for portions of the Colorado River Basin.
During the seven days following the report, upper-level high pressure over the West was forecast to move eastward. That could bring some relief from extreme temperatures across the West.
At the same time, enhanced monsoon thunderstorms were favored across Arizona, with moisture expected to extend north into Utah and portions of the northern Rockies.
Light, early-season precipitation was also possible across southern California.
Looking farther ahead, the eight-to-fourteen-day outlook favored slightly increased chances for above-normal precipitation across the western United States.
Above-normal temperatures, however, remained favored across much of the country outside the Northwest.
For the Colorado River Basin, the late-August drought picture therefore remained mixed: monsoon rainfall was bringing measurable improvement to portions of the Southwest, even as persistent heat, dryness and the lingering effects of limited spring snow cover continued to worsen conditions elsewhere.
