“Water shortages and wildfires continued to plague drought-stricken regions of the western and northwestern U.S., while very poor soil moisture conditions and severe agricultural impacts were felt in the northern Great Plains,” today’s National Drought Monitor said. “In Minnesota, hydroelectric power generation along the Mississippi River halted near St. Cloud. River levels in the state lowered towards 1988 drought levels, creating a danger for boats to scrape along the bottoms of rivers,” today’s update continued.
Spotty moderate to heavy rain fell in areas of Missouri, Illinois, northern Indiana, Ohio, central and eastern Kentucky, central and eastern Wisconsin, and Michigan the week ending Aug. 17. But western Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota remained dry over the past week. Consequently, drought conditions worsened in eastern and central Iowa, “with large patches of severe and extreme drought covering the central and northern sections of the state.” In Minnesota, “widespread degradation in drought conditions occurred … severe, extreme, and exceptional drought have increased their foothold across much of the state.”
Conditions were warm and dry for much of the High Plains over the past week. Today’s Drought Summary comments, “Severe and extreme drought grew in coverage along the Missouri River in northeast Nebraska and adjacent South Dakota. Drought coverage also increased in northeast South Dakota and across parts of North Dakota.”