Sad news on the drought front for Wisconsin. The latest US Drought Monitor now indicates all of the state of Wisconsin is in abnormally dry or worse conditions. The drier than normal weather in August took its toll, even in the Northwoods where earlier this year they had plenty of rain. The good news is that the severe and extreme drought conditions have not expanded. With not much rain in the forecast this weekend, we will probably not see any improvement next week. If we don’t see significant rain this Fall, then I suspect we will start to see much lower lake and river levels develop once again. That was one of the saddest sights I remember from the various drought years from 2002 to 2009 – so many docks out of the water because water levels had dropped so far. If El Nino sticks around this Fall and Winter, the weather could remain drier and warmer than normal.

Around the country, the most improvement has been in the extreme and exceptional drought that had been in the Ohio Valley. The areal coverage of the worst drought has retreated a great deal as heavier rain has hit Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and neighboring areas in recent weeks. Otherwise, around the rest of the country there has not been a whole lot of change.

Posted under Drought

Image from NOAA

It’s official.  July 2012 will go down not only as the hottest July on record, but as the hottest month ever recorded in U.S. history! 

In a report titled “State of the Climate”, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the average temperature in the U.S. was 77.6 degrees, 3.3 degrees above the average 20th century temperature for July.

According to NOAA statistics, this July was the warmest since the summer of 1936.  That’s when the average temperature in the U.S. was 77.4°F.  That’s also when the Dust Bowl was destroying farms across the American Plains with horrendous weather conditions and disastrous drought.

This year, over half of the United States (63% according to NOAA) is in one form of another of drought.

To give the report a look over for yourself (it’s an interesting read with several graphics depicting the info) follow this link: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/   

Posted under Climate Change, Drought, Environment, Heat, Natural Disasters, Records, Science, Seasonal Items, Weather History, Weather NEws, World Weather

Weather and rainfall is often a case of the “haves” and “have nots”.  It’s really strange that parts of southern and central Wisconsin have had less than 3.0″ of moisture for the entire growing season so far while parts of central Minnesota around Brainerd and Aitkin have had around 30.0″ for the growing season so far!  Yes that’s right… two and a half feet of rain since April just about 300 miles away from the drought zone.  I provide forecasts for some radio stations in that part of Minnesota, so it’s very interesting talking to them, and how they are hoping the rain misses them for a few days so they can enjoy more summer sunshine.  I have to definitely change mind sets when talking with clients in the drought zone versus the wet zone.  They have different things on their mind and opposite needs for sure.

Be that as it may, some substantial rainfall fell in northern Wisconsin early Wednesday.  The image below is the rainfall estimate from the Green Bay NWS Doppler Radar.  Parts of northern Price, Oneida, Vilas, Ashland, and Iron Counties had over 1.0″ of rainfall.  In fact 1.8″ fell around Winchester with 1.4″ in Park Falls.

This band of decent rainfall actually started back in northwest Minnesota Tuesday night.  Amounts of 1 to 3″ were reported in a strip from Grand Forks to Duluth.  Doesn’t that sound nice! 

Some people have been asking me how much rain would we need to climb out of the drought?  Well of course it depends on where you are and how much rain has fallen in your area this season.  However in general, according to the image below from the National Weather Service, it looks like the southern half of Wisconsin would need about 3 to 9″ to be come out of the drought status.  Ideally that would fall over a week or two, rather than in one short burst. Obviously that would cause flash flooding and most of it would run off into the rivers rather than soak into the ground.  You can find all kinds of in depth information about the drought around the country from the following link, http://www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

Posted under Drought, Rainfall Reports, Seasonal Items, Summer, Weather NEws