As of Aug. 30, 64% of the U.S. was experiencing abnormal dryness/drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, unchanged from the previous week but eight percentage points more than last year at this time.
The Drought Monitor summary noted, “Broad drought improvements continued across parts of the South for the second week in a row as the ongoing effects of record-setting rainfall over the last two weeks became apparent. The North American Monsoon also continued to provide much-needed rainfall in the Southwest, leading to additional improvements across much of the region. Drought expanded in the Northwest as warm, dry conditions continued across the region, while the Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast saw a mix of improvements and degradations due to locally heavy rain.”
Across the Midwest: “Spotty, heavy rain fell across the Midwest this week, leading to a mix of drought improvement and deterioration. Above-normal rainfall led to 1-category improvements across parts of eastern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, central Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. The much-needed rainfall helped replenish soil moisture and streamflow. Moderate (D1) and severe (D2) drought expanded in northwest and southeast Iowa where rainfall deficits of 6 to 8 inches over the last 90 days have dried out soils, reduced streamflow and strained vegetation.”
In the Plains: “Warm, dry conditions continued across much of the region with the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas seeing some areas of worsening conditions. In Nebraska and Kansas, all levels of drought expanded as short-term precipitation deficits, on top of long-term dryness, continued to deplete soil moisture and stress vegetation. Exceptional (D4) drought expanded in the southwest where rainfall deficits of over 3.5 inches have occurred over the last 90 days. Extreme (D3), severe (D2) and moderate (D1) drought expanded in the eastern half of Nebraska where rainfall deficits of 3 to nearly 7 inches have occurred over the last 90 days. Other areas of Nebraska seeing degradations include north-central Nebraska, where D2 expanded, and the Panhandle, where D1 expanded. Similarly, Kansas also saw large areas of deterioration. In the western half of the state, D1, D2, D3 and D4 expanded where rainfall deficits near 5 inches occurred over the last 90 days. In the east, improvements were made to D1 where the heaviest rain fell over the last 2 weeks. Improvements were also made in eastern South Dakota to D1 along a band of heavy rain last week.”
Across the Corn Belt, dryness/drought covers 23% of Illinois (down 1 point from last week), 45% of Indiana (up 11 points), 62% of Iowa (down 4 points), 90% of Kansas (up 7 points), 21% of Michigan (down 6 points), 20% of Minnesota (down 1 point), 46% of Missouri (down 3 points), 100% of Nebraska (up 2 points), 28% of North Dakota (down 1 point), 7% of Ohio (up 2 points), 71% of South Dakota (up 3 points) and 19% of Wisconsin (down 9 points).
USDA estimates the drought footprint covers 28% of corn acres (up 1 point from last week), 21% for soybeans (up 1 point) and 47% for cotton (down 4 points).