Alabama, Mississippi Declared Drought-Free for First Time Since 2016

Alabama and Mississippi are completely free from drought for the first time in more than a year.

A federal assessment released at the end of June showed rains eliminated a dry spell that began in April 2016, the last time Alabama was totally drought-free.

Days of heavy rains from Topical Storm Cindy helped, and now only slivers of northwest Alabama and northeastern Mississippi are considered abnormally dry. That’s a step below being in a drought.

The worst period of dry weather was last fall, when the entire state of Alabama was in a drought for an eight-week period that began in late October.

Statistics from the National Drought Mitigation Center show conditions have improved steadily since then.