document: The focus of the drought plaguing much of the nation has shifted eastward , but little relief is in sight for most areas , the National Weather Service reported Thursday . The new short-range forecast through next Monday calls for hot , dry weather to expand eastward from the Rockies through the Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic states . Rapidly moving weather systems are expected to drag weak fronts along the U.S.-Canadian border , possibly triggering scattered showers in the extreme northern Plains and upper Mississippi Valley . The heavy rain which has hit portions of Texas is expected to diminish . Long-term drought conditions now cover a large area of the Great Lakes region and the Ohio and Tennessee valleys , the agency 's Climate Analysis Center reported . In addition , drought conditions persist over large areas of the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains . A 30-day weather forecast issued Wednesday held little hope for improvement . And a separate climate assessment added that many areas now experiencing extreme drought have less than a 4 percent chance of recovering from the drought within 3 months . At the beginning of July , 29 percent of the nation was undergoing severe or extreme drought , the agency said . On Tuesday , the Agriculture Department announced sharp reductions in the anticipated harvest of many crops because of the water shortage _ and those projections were based on the assumption of normal weather from here on , according to department officials . The new National Weather Service forecasts cast a dark cloud over that assumption . The drought region now extends well into West Virginia and includes nearly all of Ohio and Indiana and much of Kentucky and Tennessee , the weather service drought advisory said . On the other hand , western portions of the Mississippi Valley have received some relief due to recent rains . The drought has been accompanied by higher than normal temperatures over much of the nation , most notably over the western Great Lakes region . The national picture shows the current drought to be about equivalent to that of 1911 , and still somewhat less severe than in several years in the 1930s or 1956 . However , in the Midwest , the weather service reported that large areas have experienced the driest April-June period on record since 1895 . Recent rains have resulted in local flooding in Texas , but nationally streamflows are below normal , and even in Texas are expected to fall back to below average levels . Flows in many major rivers remain low and continue to restrict navigation . Reservoir levels remain close to average in much of the nation , however , the weather service noted . In addition to Thursday 's short-range forecast , the medium-range outlook through July 23 anticipates much of the nation will remain hotter than normal , particularly the Tennessee Valley , lower Midwest , central and northern Great Plains , northern Rockies and Great Basin . The only areas escaping heat in the forecast are the nation 's northwestern and northeastern corners and the Louisiana-Texas-New Mexico area . Most of the hot area is expected to be drier than normal , although some significant rain could penetrate northwestward from Texas into New Mexico , Colorado and eastern Wyoming .
extractive_keyphrases: little relief dry weather extreme drought agriculture department water shortage drought region national weather service northern great plains western great lakes region
abstractive_keyphrases: long-term drought conditions short-range forecast