Drought Information Statement for Central Alabama Valid January 29, 2026 Issued By: NWS Birmingham, AL Contact Information: sr-bmx.webmaster@noaa.gov This product will be updated only if drought conditions change significantly. Please see all currently available products at https://drought.gov/drought-information-statements. Please visit https://www.weather.gov/bmx/DroughtInformationStatement for previous statements. U.S. Drought Monitor National Weather Service Birmingham, AL Image Caption: U.S. Drought Monitor valid January 27, 2026 Drought intensity and Extent D4 Exceptional Drought: None. D3 Extreme Drought: A small area in the east central part of the state.. D2 and D1 Severe/Moderate Drought: Mainly in the southwest corner of the area but also includes locations around Demopolis and Selma. D0 Abnormally Dry: Most of central Alabama is either considered abnormally dry or completely free of drought conditions. This is a significant change to previous updates. Recent Change in Drought Intensity National Weather Service Birmingham, AL Four Week Drought Monitor Class Change. Drought Worsened: Only in southeast locations of the area. No Change and Drought Improvement: Most of the area either experienced no change or a one category drought improvement. Precipitation Last 30 days National Weather Service Birmingham, AL Dry conditions persist across much of the deep south over the past 30 days. The recent heavy rainfall event did allow for many locations in central Alabama to temporarily catch up with rainfall deficits. Most other locations are still below average for the past month. January's average weekly rainfall should be around 1.25 inches with monthly totals averaging around 5 inches. Summary of Impacts National Weather Service Birmingham, AL Hydrologic Impacts Streamflows have fluctuated greatly due to recent rainfall. Many locations are in the normal range but continue an overall decline. Some of the southeast counties continue to experience extremely low flows. Agricultural Impacts No updates from the USDA have been reported. Fire Hazard Impacts There are no fire weather impacts at this time. Drought Mitigation Actions Please refer to your municipality and/or water provider for mitigation information. Hydrologic Conditions and Impacts National Weather Service Birmingham, AL Streamflows are at or near normal across the northern half of the state but remain below across most of the southern half. Click the link to the right for a full map and legend to the image provided. Agricultural Impacts National Weather Service Birmingham, AL Soil Moisture continues a slow but steady decline even as intermittent rainfall occurs. There are no new crop reports at this time. Fire Hazard Impacts National Weather Service Birmingham, AL Keetch Byram Drought Index values are averaging over 600 over most of the central Alabama area. Risks for fires are elevated. Fire Hazard Impacts National Weather Service Birmingham, AL The latest Alabama drought declaration map has all of Alabama in either an advisory, watch or warning status. Seven Day Precipitation Forecast National Weather Service Birmingham, AL Scattered light rainfall is expected through February 6th. This is not enough to improve the drought conditions in place across the area and some decline in the drought status will be possible for parts of the area. Medium-Range Outlooks The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage National Weather Service Birmingham, AL The seasonal outlook for the next 3 month period is calling for a higher chance of above average temperatures. Rainfall probabilities during this same time-frame lend to a near average to slightly below average pattern. If this pattern verifies, it would lend towards potential improvement across the north and persistent or worsening drought conditions in the south. Drought Outlook National Weather Service Birmingham, AL The latest seasonal outlook released by the CPC on January 15th shows no areas of improvement across our southern counties with some potential improvement across the north.