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I've been doing some research tonight to see WHO needs rain the most in Region 8. Over the past few days, I've been hearing stories about how badly some people need rainfall. I decided to analyze who needs rain the most. First, here's a map that shows how much rain has fallen over the last 30 days. Here are a few notes: Parts of Poinsett, Craighead, Lawrence, and Sharp County have seen a lot of rain!  The areas with RED have seen over 5.00" of rain in the past 30 days! The areas in green have seen LESS THAN 2.00" of rainfall in the past 30 days. The LIGHT GREEN has not even had 1.00" of rainfall in 30 days! This mainly includes parts of Clay and Greene Counties. Click image to enlarge.  This next map REALLY breaks it down for you. This map shows you have much above or below average you are in rainfall. Focus on the TAN areas. These are the areas that are 2.00" or more BELOW average for the last 30 days.  A lot of Greene and Clay counties... Ripley/Oregon...

Many of you have probably noticed the HAZE over the past day or two. You may have also noticed that it's not like our normal summer haze. It has a little bit of a "dusty" look to it... Well, that's because it is from the Saharan Desert! As you can see in this animation, the general wind flow is from East to West in the lower latitudes. If the wind patterns are just right... that dust is scooped northward into Region 8: The above animation is a forecast over the next few days. Notice that while the dust is still moving across the Atlantic, it will lesson over Region 8. Yesterday was probably the worst day: One good thing about having Saharan Desert Dust over the Atlantic is that it helps suppress hurricane development. Have a great day! Ryan