Although much of the country remained well watered through the heart of summer, drought developed or intensified during July from the southern Plains into the middle Mississippi Valley and from Michigan into the Northeast. The drought situation would have been worse in the absence of a late-month cooling trend-the Nation's first notable spell of below-normal temperatures since April. Before the arrival of cool air, however, blistering heat baked Texas and environs, beginning around mid-month and lasting for more than a week. In parts of Texas, the blazing heat and lack of moisture resulted in significant agricultural issues, such as severe range-land stress. In contrast, regular Southeastern showers kept pastures mostly green. However, too much rain fell in parts of the East, leading to pockets of flash flooding. Monthly rainfall totaled a foot or more at scattered mid-Atlantic locations.Elsewhere, hot, dry weather dominated California and the Northwest, while scattered showers related to the monsoon circulation dotted the southern Great Basin and the Southwest. The Southwestern showers provided only limited drought relief but curbed the wildfire threat. Conversely, dozens of July wildfires across the remainder of the West scorched well over two million acres of timber, brush, and grass.
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