Drought continues to spread and intensify over corn, soybean areas
As of June 27, the Drought Monitor showed 54% of the U.S. was covered by abnormal dryness/drought, down two percentage point from the previous week. Drought continues to expand across corn and soybean areas. USDA estimated drought (D1 or higher) covered 70% of corn production areas (up six points from last week), 63% of soybeans (up six points), 15% of spring wheat (unchanged) and 18% of cotton areas (up two points).
For the Midwest, the Drought Monitor noted: “Heavy rains in parts of Ohio and Kentucky led to some improvements in ongoing short-term drought. Otherwise, much of the region saw conditions stay the same or worsen this week, especially in central Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, southwest Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota and southeast Iowa. Almost completely dry weather in Missouri and the southern two-thirds of Illinois led to widespread degradations, where streamflow and soil moisture continued to decrease amid mounting precipitation deficits, creating potential problems for corn and soybean production this growing season.”
For the Plains, the Drought Monitor stated: “Much of the Great Plains portion of the region, with the exception of eastern Nebraska and eastern Kansas, saw widespread precipitation, some of it heavy. Much of northwest Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, northeast Colorado, South Dakota and the southern half of North Dakota saw rainfall of at least 2 inches over the last week. In western Nebraska, eastern Wyoming and the Dakotas, this led to widespread improvements to the drought depiction in areas where the heaviest rains fell. Isolated heavy rains in central and western Kansas also led to localized improvements to ongoing drought areas. Meanwhile, conditions continued to worsen in southeast Nebraska, northeast Kansas and the Kansas City area, where mostly dry weather continued. Given continued decreases in soil moisture and groundwater, and growing short- and long-term precipitation deficits, exceptional drought was introduced in parts of the Omaha metropolitan area.”
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