Some Midwest Areas See Drought Relief, Others Struggle

This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor shows a mix of degradations along with areas of improvement. After a week of scattered heavy rainfall, drought conditions improved across much of the Midwest and Great Plains.

Rainfall

Significant rainfall fell across northern Missouri, Iowa, southern Minnesota, central and northern Wisconsin, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In these areas, the rain helped ease ongoing drought and abnormal dryness, boosting soil moisture and lessening short-term precipitation deficits. Some areas in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Indiana, and Illinois that missed this precipitation saw localized degradations.

Temperatures

Adding pressure to the eastern Corn Belt is the unseasonably hot temperatures. Over the past week, temperatures ranged from 4 to 10 degrees above normal across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, southern Michigan, and Kentucky.

“Temperatures hit 100°F several days in southern Illinois last week,” said Phil Krieg, agronomy service representative for Syngenta Crop Protection in Illinois. “Along with the humidity heat indices were 105-110°F. The heat and humidity helped the corn gain color and grow, but signs of rooting stress were easy to spot in the afternoons.”

But that wasn’t the case everywhere. In Iowa, Missouri and southern Wisconsin, temperatures 1 to 4 degrees warmer than normal were more common.

Improvements to ongoing drought or abnormal dryness occurred in northern Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where heavy recent rainfall lessened precipitation deficits and improved soil moisture.

“It was a wet week from June 23 through June 30, with rainstorms that continuously rained over parts of north central Iowa,” said Angie Rieck-Hinz, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, in an Integrated Crop Management News article.

“Mason City has received 10.16 inches of rain from June 1 through June 30, which is 4.90 inches above average,” wrote Rieck-Hinz. “An even broader perspective says it has just plain been wet.”

High Plains

In the High Plains, areas that received heavy rain, soil moisture and precipitation deficits were alleviated and widespread improvements to ongoing drought or abnormal dryness occurred. In central Nebraska, there was a two-category improvement thanks to some of the weeks heaviest rainfalls.

“Central and eastern Nebraska received significant rainfall the night of June 25 into June 26,” shared Travis Gustafson, agronomic service representative for Syngenta. “Grand Island received around 6.5 inches of rainfall with heavier amounts (up to 8 inches) in localized areas.”

He added that this has created flooding conditions along the Platte valley from Wood River to Columbus. 

“Fortunately, no wind, hail, or tornadoes accompanied these storms,” said Gustafson. “Other parts of eastern Nebraska only received 2 to 4 inches of precipitation. This event should help to reduce Nebraska’s drought category and build up our subsoil moisture as we head into the critical pollination timeframe in July.” 

The moisture combined with the upcoming seasonal temperatures will create a great environment for corn growth and development, hoped Gustafson.