March: Running a little dry

National Drought Mitigation Center

The last time any measurable precipitation fell was back on March 3rd when 2.5" of snow came down.  After that, it's been bone dry and that's starting to cause a bit of a deficit in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.  Snowfall for the month is almost an inch behind, and overall precipitation is just a little over 0.80" below the monthly average.  While it might not sound like much, we don't want to start running dry too soon in the season because there could be impacts on spring planting and soil moisture recharge.

It does look like there will be at least a dent put into the dry stretch late this weekend and into next week.  The chance for both snow and rain are in the 7-day forecast.  A rain/snow mix is possible late Sunday into Monday of next week, with rainfall possible for next Wednesday.