October Storms Improve Drought Conditions in the Four Corners and Ohio Valley

As we reach mid-October, the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) reported that a late-season surge of tropical moisture brought heavy precipitation and areas of flooding to parts of the Four Corners States. Amounts of 4 inches to locally over 6 inches were reported in parts of interior Arizona and southern Colorado. Farther east, a coastal storm system brought gusty winds and heavy rains to parts of the East Coast. Drought designations improved by multiple categories in some of the wetter areas across interior Arizona, southern Colorado, and eastern South Carolina. Areas of 1-category improvement covered the central and southwestern Four Corners Region, the Middle and Lower Ohio Valley and adjacent locations, and portions of the Atlantic Coast from south Florida through southern New England.

Conversely, only a few tenths of an inch fell across southeast California, most of the Great Basin, the central and northern High Plains, much of the Great Plains, the Great Lakes Region, portions of the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley, much of the interior Deep South, and the Gulf Coast Region. This resulted in dryness, drought persistence, and intensified drought across large parts of the Deep South away from the Atlantic Coast, the central Gulf Coast Region, the Lower Mississippi Valley, the east-central and south-central Great Plains, and locations across the northern tier of the Lower-48 from Montana through northern New England.

Midwest

Throughout parts of the Midwest, heavy rain brought widespread improvement to most of Kentucky, the southern reaches of Ohio and Indiana, eastern Ohio, and a few areas near southern Lake Michigan. Areas of central Ohio received a 2-category improvement. Elsewhere, only light precipitation was reported, leading to scattered areas of deterioration across Illinois, central Indiana, Michigan, east-central and northwestern Wisconsin, Minnesota, northwestern Iowa, and parts of Missouri.

“Weather the first part of October in Minnesota has been ideal for harvest,” said Tim Dahl, agronomic service representative for Syngenta Crop Protection. “There have been a couple of showers in places, but harvest is moving along rapidly.”

For the past two months, precipitation totals of 4–8 inches below normal are fairly widespread across most of Missouri and Illinois, plus parts of southwestern Iowa and the east-central Michigan Lower Peninsula.

In Illinois, Phil Krieg, agronomy service representative for Syngenta Crop Protection, shared there had been no recent rainfall with temperatures slightly above normal with daytime highs in the low 80s Fahrenheit and nighttime lows in the mid 60s.

“Soil conditions are completely dry and growers are reducing wheat acres unless we receive some rain very soon,” said Krieg.

Much of northern Indiana and northwestern Ohio are 3 to locally 5 inches below normal during this period, according to the USDM.

High Plains

Heavy to excessive rainfall soaked Colorado’s mountain regions. Most areas from west-central through south-central portions of the state received at least 3 inches of precipitation, with much heavier amounts, up to nearly 8 inches in spots, falling on the higher elevations of south-central Colorado. This led to widespread improvements, with some of the wetter areas receiving 2-category improvements. Elsewhere light to moderate precipitation fell on most of the Plains and Wyoming, with amounts over an inch recorded in isolated sections of central Kansas, eastern North Dakota, and westernmost Wyoming. Significant areas of dryness development or deterioration were limited to eastern Kansas and the southern tier of South Dakota.

In Nebraska, Travis Gustafson, agronomic service representative for Syngenta Crop Protection, shared that harvest is progressing again after some precipitation.

“Much of Nebraska received some rain on Oct. 6 so that slowed down some of the harvest progress,” said Gustafson. “We have had some good drying weather since the rain so harvest progress has returned back to normal.”