Drought in Upper Plaquemines, Louisiana

Unusually hot and dry weather conditions continued across much of southeast Louisiana during July. Average temperature departures were around 3 degrees above normal across the region. Three daily maximum temperatures records were set at New Orleans International Airport and five were set or tied at New Orleans Audubon Park. Although increased precipitation across the region during July resulted in some improvement of the dry conditions from the past two months, drought conditions continued with the Palmer Drought Index placing most of southeast Louisiana in moderate to mild drought at the end of July. However, severe drought conditions persisted in the immediate Baton Rouge area and areas to the west. Below normal precipitation occurred south of Lake Pontchartrain and near the coast, where an average monthly rainfall of 5.73 inches was observed compared to the normal of 6.82 inches. Near normal precipitation fell north of Lake Pontchartrain where an average monthly rainfall of 6.38 inches was measured. Damage estimates for crops will be described in a later issuance of Storm Data at the end of the growing season.