(SEVIERVILLE, Tenn.) SMOKIES.LIVE – For those of you looking for rain and true spring temperatures, long range models indicate limited rain and summer-like days to continue.
Moderate to exceptional drought conditions exist across 55% of the continental United States according to forecasters at NOAA.
“Drought conditions worsened or developed for much of the Great Plains, Lower Mississippi Valley, and Southeast U.S. due to warmer and drier than normal conditions this winter,” said Jon Gottschalck, chief of the Operational Prediction Branch, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. “Drought is likely to persist across much of the West while developing in parts of the Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, central Rockies and Southwest. Dry conditions are expected to improve for some areas in the Midwest and Atlantic seaboard.”
Drought is expected to persist for the Great Smoky Mountains of both Tennessee and North Carolina. This dry pattern is expected to continue through June 30, 2026.
Above-normal temperatures are favored across the majority of the United States including in the Smoky Mountains.
So far in April, in Gatlinburg, temperatures have been running 10 to 15 degrees above normal for afternoon highs. The average high for April is 76 degrees and should have had at least 2 inches of rain. So far, just over a half inch of rain in Gatlinburg, TN.
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