US drought has tight hold, snow not seen as big help

Carey Gillam in Reuters: A snow storm moving through the Plains states into the U.S. Midwest brought much-needed moisture to drought-hit states, but drought has such a tight grip on the central U.S. that more moisture will be needed, according to weather experts.

"The snow is good, but in most instances it was less than one inch of liquid and if the soils are frozen, there will be little infiltration," said Brian Fuchs, climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "Welcomed, yes. A big changer to the overall drought, not really," Fuchs said.

A report issued Thursday by a consortium of federal and state climatology experts said that as of December 18, large swaths of the nation's midsection remained blanketed in extreme and exceptional levels of drought, the worst levels on the measurement scale.

Before the snow storm hit late Wednesday, nearly 27 percent of the High Plains, was considered in the very worst level of drought, exceptional drought. Indeed, "severe," and "extreme" levels of drought also crept higher over the last week, according to the Drought Monitor report.

Severe drought was spread over 86.20 percent of the High Plains, up from 86.12 percent the week before, while extreme drought area was pegged at 59.98 percent of the region, up from 58.39 percent. Exceptional drought was pegged at 26.99 percent, up from 26.91 percent....

Cows in a 2007 snowstorm in Oberlin, Kansas, shot by FEMA