Very dry stretch ahead may raise drought conditions

 

It's been a dry start to fall already with very few thunderstorm chances in the month of September. We would normally expect this month to produce around 3.13" of rain by this point however the state line has only seen a third of its monthly rainfall for the month of September with this year producing only 1.05" up to this point. Because of this drought conditions have become a bit more prevalent in some parts of the region as noted by the Drought Monitor.

Although conditions across Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin aren't as severe as areas further south, another upcoming dry spell could raise concerns a bit.

Over the next week we won't see any chance for much precipitation let alone considerable of heavy precipitation. A large upper-level ridge is expected to develop through the entire week which will send any available lift or forcing for thunderstorms well to our north. At this time as well very, little atmospheric moisture will be available for showers or thunderstorms to develop as any moisture available will be near a tropical system in the Carolinas.

Because of the lack of both moisture and forcing very little if any precipitation is expected occur over the next week. This will continue to dry out both crops and grass along with other vegetation at the surface which may lead to worsening drought conditions. Although most crops are past growing season, as fall approaches wind speeds at the surface often increase due to low pressure systems. If this occurs with very dry conditions at the surface, we may have to think about wildfire potential heading into October.