Mix of drought degradation and improvement over the past week for the Midwest
Areas of the Midwest, High Plains and West received welcome rainfall the week ending Aug. 24, leading to localized drought improvement. But many areas of the central U.S. that missed out on heavier rains saw drought conditions worsen over the past week, today’s National Drought Summary says. Temperatures were warmer than normal in the Upper Midwest and Northeast.
For the Midwest, specifically, weather varied widely on the moisture front, but the entire region saw warm temperatures, with Michigan and Minnesota recording the largest deviations from the norm. “Rain fell across roughly the southwestern half of Missouri, Iowa (north of Interstate 80), the western two-thirds of Minnesota), far southeast Ohio, and Kentucky, as well as a few other isolated spots in southern Illinois. Elsewhere, the weather was largely dry,” today’s summary notes.
Short-term moderate drought has developed in central Indiana, with recent dry weather also leading to an expansion of drought in northern Wisconsin and the Michigan Upper Peninsula. On the other hand, heavy rain resulted in drought improvement in Iowa and Minnesota, though longer-term deficits remain across much of these two states. “In some areas of northeast and southwest Minnesota that didn’t see much or any rain this week, extreme drought widened its footprint,” today’s update notes.
Rains also fell “over wide areas of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, and western Colorado, leading to some improvements in drought conditions,” today’s update says. “Parts of the Missouri River Valley in northeast Nebraska, northwest Iowa, and southeast South Dakota did not see much rain, however, and moderate, severe, and extreme drought expanded there,” the drought summary continues.
Today’s Drought Monitor puts 42.1% of the Midwest in abnormal dryness or drought, a 3.1-point increase from last week. The High Plains are now 79.5% covered by drought/dryness, a 1.5-point increase from the week prior.
