Dry August Pushes Worsening Drought

There was widespread degradation of drought conditions across areas of the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast, according to the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor. The Lower Midwest saw some of the largest rainfall deficits, ranging from 3 to 5 inches.

Short-term dryness and drought impact reports from the agricultural sector led to degradations in isolated areas of the Southeast and South. For the week, most of the eastern half of the U.S. experienced unseasonably cooler temperatures, while temperatures out West were above normal, especially across the Pacific Northwest and Desert Southwest.

The temperature outlook shows above normal temperatures for much of the Midwest and High Plains, while the East and West coasts are expected to be below normal.

Midwest

“Temperatures have been much cooler, but humidity has remained,” said Eric Wilson, Wyffels Agronomy manager in southern and northeast Iowa. “Growers are concerned with how quickly their crop is turning. Excessive heat and disease this past summer have pushed this crop quickly and it looks like much of the corn will be ready to harvest before beans will be ready.”

Widespread degradations were made across the Midwest after precipitation shortfalls during the past 30-day period. The image below compares the drought conditions for the Midwest at the beginning of August with drought levels at the beginning of September.

Ryan Gentle, Wyffels Agronomy Manager is based in Marietta, Illinois, describes August as dry.

“Most of the southern two-thirds of Illinois had one of the top five driest Augusts on record,” shared Gentle. “Some areas in west central Illinois have been over 10 days without rain.”

Record to near-record dryness (for the past 30-day period) was observed at numerous observing stations across the region, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center (SERCC), including:

• Cincinnati Airport, Ohio (-2.71 inch departure from normal; driest on record)
• Columbus airport, Ohio (-3.1 inches; driest on record)
• Springfield, Illinois (-3.21 inches; 2nd driest on record)
• Springfield airport, Missouri (-3.45 inches; driest on record)

Additionally, numerous agricultural sector drought impact reports were reported during the past seven days to the National Drought Mitigation Center’s Condition Monitoring Observer Report (CMOR) system.

Nick Groth, agronomic service representative for Syngenta Crop Protection covering the state of Wisconsin, shared it had been an uneventful week in the weather department.

“Last week brought cooler temperatures and dry conditions,” said Groth.

High Plains

In the High Plains there were improvements made to the drought map in northern Kansas, and southern Nebraska, where some isolated shower activity during the past week continued to help chip away at the longer-term precipitation deficits.

For the past 60-day period, the Lincoln airport observed its sixth wettest on record with 10.24 inches, according to the SERCC. Conditions deteriorated in the southwestern extent of South Dakota where a combination of short and long-term precipitation deficits have persisted leading to expansion of areas of Moderate Drought.

“In Nebraska, the main concern for corn growers right now is keeping up with irrigation,” said Travis Gustafson, agronomic service representative for Syngenta Crop Protection covering central and western Nebraska. “We have seen some light showers, which have helped the moisture situation, but they weren’t enough across a broad area. The last time around with irrigation should be within the next couple of weeks for most growers.”

The weather in Nebraska has been very mild over the last week,” said Gustafson. “We need heat to finish out grain fill and get starch lines dropping, but we didn’t see that kind of weather for the last week of August.”