Summer 2022 Drought - July 7th Update

(10:45AM Thursday - 7/7/22) The latest NOAA drought monitor valid July 7th, 2022 continues to have portions of Illinois experiencing abnormally dry (D0) to moderate drought (D1) conditions. Drought conditions have continued to expand and intensify since the last update on June 28th, with severe drought (D2) conditions now occurring in portions of the state as well. Several factors continue to contribute to the formation, expansion and intensification of this drought across portions of the state, including but not limited to: Lack of widespread and consistent rainfall, warm temperatures, high soil moisture evaporation due to the time of year and ample sun.

The good news is that the weather pattern this week has brought much needed rainfall to portions of the state, which should be reflected more in the drought monitor update for July 14th, possibly showing some improvement in conditions for some areas. On the flip side, rainfall in the summer season is very high or miss, so unfortunately some areas will miss out on the wet weather pattern this week, leading to an increase in conditions for some areas.

JP