Drought Monitor

The latest drought monitor was released Thursday morning from the National Drought Mitigation Center.  Illinois, with the exception of extreme western Illinois, and most of Wisconsin are doing fairly well.  However, from last week to this week there has been a slight east and northward expansion of the drought conditions across Iowa and Wisconsin.  The first image is the current drought monitor valid Thursday, August 8th.

The second image is the drought monitor from last week, July 30th.  While much of Iowa is considered under 'abnormally' dry conditions, doing a week to week comparison yields those drier than normal conditions reaching a little further north into northwestern Wisconsin and even into parts of the Dakotas and Minnesota.  The central Plains and southwest remain extremely dry as little rain and very hot conditions have persisted pretty much all summer long.  This has really heightened the fire season out west.  We were fortunate enough to be lifted out of the drought earlier this year with a very wet winter season while the Plains have remained under extreme or exceptional drought conditions pretty much all summer.

A stationary boundary draped across the southern Plains to the Ohio Valley the past few days has brought torrential downpours and extensive flooding to states like Tennessee and Missouri.  Closer to home the next decent chance at measurable precipitation likely won't arrive until Monday and then it's looking dry after that.