The latest drought monitor is out from the National Drought Mitigation Center and continues to show persistent drought conditions across Illinois and Wisconsin. The numbers from last week to this week haven't changed much. Wisconsin has seen a slight decrease in numbers, but Illinois has experienced a slight increase. Moderate drought conditions have expanded into Carroll, Whitside and Lee counties while severe drought conditions have expanded into southwestern Whiteside County.
A little rain would be nice but looking out over the next week to week in a half and it doesn't appear like that will happen. The next chance for rain will occur with the passage of a cool front Saturday and Saturday night. After that, it looks dry until the end of next week.
Let's talk a little bit about what's needed to alleviate drought conditions. Heavy rainfall, from say a thunderstorm, produces a significant amount of rain usually in a short amount of time. While the rain is nice, the nature of how quickly it's coming down doesn't allow time for the rain to actually soak into the ground. Instead, the rain runs off and if heavy enough can cause flooding. When it does start to get dry a soaking rain, like the one we had a couple weeks ago, is what usually is the most effective. Even though it makes for a dreary day the rain is able to soak into the ground and replenish the water table rather than run off right away. Of course, if it's a heavy rain that continues all day then that can cause some problems as well.
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