Drought Conditions Develop over Much of Illinois - Extending into Wisconsin

Ask anyone what the one downfall is to the nice stretch of weather we've had lately and they'll likely tell you it's the lack of rain.  We are two weeks into the month of September and we have yet to record over a tenth of an inch of rainfall.  Since the beginning of the month only 0.07 inches has fallen.  August was also a dry month recording a little over three inches of rain, nearly an inch and a half short of the monthly average.

The most recent drought monitor was released Thursday morning from the National Drought Mitigation Center in Nebraska.  Drier than normal conditions have really expanded over the state of Illinois, with now nearly 91 percent of the state considered dry.  The hardest hit area in the Midwest remains to be in Iowa where very little rain has fallen over since the beginning of August. 

The drought monitor is put together by a team of meteorologists and climatologists, with input from many different professionals and experts from across the country.  Not only do they look at the amount of rain that has fallen over a period of time, but also other factors such as soil moisture and type, past rain events, future rain events, etc.

There have been some areas of northern Illinois that dealt with exceptional rainfall in late Spring and early Summer, but since then not much rain has fallen.

While I don't think the drought conditions will become a significant problem for us in Illinois, we do need fall moisture in the soil as we transition into Winter.  Adequate moisture is needed come Spring for planting crops.  We do have a little rain in the forecast for the weekend, but even if we were to make up for what we've lost it would be a little too late for the crops as we are nearing fall harvest time.