Drought footprint mostly unchanged
As of Aug. 16, 67% of the U.S. was experiencing abnormal dryness/drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, up one point from the previous week. The commentary noted: “Rainfall in the Midwest was hit-and-miss last week. A mix of deterioration an improvement resulted, but dryness and drought remained considerably more widespread along the western tier of states in the Midwest Region. Improvement was indicated in relatively small, scattered areas across the region while deterioration was fairly common from central Illinois and Iowa northward through most of northwestern Wisconsin. Several bands of extreme drought (D2) persist in the western tier of the Region, with small areas of extreme drought (D3) affecting northwestern Iowa and southwestern Missouri.”
In the Plains: “Light rainfall at best fell on Kansas and farther north across the Dakotas. In contrast, heavy precipitation augmented by intrusions of monsoonal moisture covered large areas from Colorado and Wyoming eastward into western Nebraska. Dryness and drought eased in these areas, with improvement most widespread across the southern half of Wyoming and in the Colorado High Plains. Precipitation in these areas generally exceeded an inch, with 2 to 4 inches falling on several areas from southeastern Wyoming into northwestern Nebraska. Outside of the band of heavy precipitation that brought some improvement to Nebraska and adjacent areas, little or no rain fell on central and southern Kansas, and across most of the Dakotas, with South Dakota recording less rainfall than areas to the north. As a result, dryness persisted or intensified in these areas. Most of the Dakotas and the eastern tier of the Region measured near or below half of normal for the last 3o days, with several patches across the central Dakotas and southeastern Kansas receiving 25 percent of normal or less. In sharp contrast, most areas from central Wyoming through eastern Colorado and western Nebraska reported 150 to locally over 300 percent of normal since mid-July.”
Across the Corn Belt, dryness/drought covers 30% of Illinois (up 7 points from last week), 14% of Indiana (down 4 points), 67% of Iowa (up 3 points), 87% of Kansas (up 3 points), 28% of Michigan (down 3 points), 27% of Minnesota (down 1 point), 60% of Missouri (down 4 points), 95% of Nebraska (unchanged), 24% of North Dakota (up 22 points), 5% of Ohio (unchanged), 67% of South Dakota (up 8 points) and 37% of Wisconsin (up 1 point).
USDA estimates the drought footprint covers 28% of corn acres (unchanged from last week), 24% for soybeans (unchanged), 18% for spring wheat (unchanged) and 61% for cotton (down 5 points).
