Drought Information Statement for Central Alabama
Valid May 28, 2026
Issued By: NWS Birmingham, AL
This product will be updated only if drought conditions change significantly.   
DROUGHT CONDITIONS GREATLY IMPROVED DUE TO RECENT RAINFALL

Drought intensity and Extent
D4 Exceptional Drought: None.
D3 Extreme Drought: None.
D2 and D1 Severe/Moderate Drought: Most of the area is experiencing either severe or moderate drought.
D0 Abnormally Dry: Several counties in the north and northwest are now showing abnormally dry conditions. 
U.S. Drought Monitor 

Four Week Drought Monitor Class Change. 
Drought Worsened: None.
No Change and Drought Improvement: Most of the area had a 1 or 2 category improvement over the past 4 weeks.

Recent Change in Drought Intensity

Summary of Impacts
Hydrologic Impacts 
Following a week of wet conditions, streamflows returned normal levels and above normal flows for this time of the year. A continued wet pattern will improve the deep soil moisture conditions over the next week. 
Agricultural Impacts
No current impacts reported.
Fire Hazard Impacts
No significant fire weather impacts have been reported. 
Other Impacts
None  
Drought Mitigation Actions
Please refer to your municipality or water provider for mitigation information.

Hydrologic Conditions & Impacts
With most of the last week being wetter than normal, streamflows have significantly increased as ample runoff from the heavy rains replenishes the soil moisture.   

Agricultural Impacts
Significant improvements across the entire state over the past week as frequent heavy rainfall has replenished the top soil depths of 100 cm. 

Fire Hazard Impacts
Link to Wildfire Potential Outlooks from the National Interagency Coordination Center.
There has been little in the way of wild fires over the past week as rainfall has prevented any problem areas. This has been a significant and welcome change from the past couple of months.
The Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) is still maintaining the current statewide Fire Alert.
For the upcoming month of June, the current outlook calls for a normal wildfire potential. The next monthly update for these maps will be on June 1st and some change is possible.

State Alerts
The latest Alabama drought declaration map has all of Alabama in either an watch or warning status.

Seven Day Precipitation Forecast
The next 7 days will continue a wet pattern theme although probably not as wet as the previous week. This should allow for some potential improvements or at least maintaining the current status.  
Typically, Central Alabama should average around 1.00 to 1.5 inches of rainfall each week for May and roughly 1.15 to 1.5 inches per week in June. 

Two Week Outlook
The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage
The two week outlook, beginning on June 4th and is valid through June 10th, shows normal temperatures are expected. 
Rainfall probabilities during this same time-frame are calling for decent chance of above normal rainfall.
Both of these patterns would be helpful in drought improvement.

Drought Outlook
The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage.
The latest seasonal outlook released by the CPC on May 21st is maintaining some form of drought throughout the summer.