LINCOLN, Neb. — While some areas of Iowa, Illinois and Kentucky have seen rain in the past couple of weeks, drought conditions are widening across a large swath of the nation’s cropland areas, while intensifying over the West, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC).
"Drought conditions (had) spread over the upper Midwest and intensified over the West during March," said Brian Fuchs, NDMC climatologist, in his March 2015 drought report released on April 14.
"Areas on the Gulf Coast and in the Tennessee Valley improved. March ended with 36.84 percent of the contiguous United States in moderate drought or worse, compared with 32.83 percent at the end of February."
Fuchs said severe drought increased from 16.42 to 18.6 percent; extreme drought increased from 8.82 to 8.97 percent; and exceptional drought, from 3.3 to 3.34 percent of the area, ending March with 78 million people being impacted by drought, compared to 76.1 million at February’s end.
"Continuing with the conditions that have dominated 2015 up to this point, March was warm over the western United States and cold over the Northeast," he said. "In Texas, Arkansas and the Ohio River Valley, as well as much of the Mid-Atlantic, temperatures were 2 to 4 degrees below normal, and New England was 4 to 8 degrees cooler than normal.
"But the western United States was 4 to 8 degrees warmer than usual. Much of the Southeast was also 2 to 6 degrees above normal."
Much of the Midwest was colder than normal in March, with departures from normal of 4-6 degrees quite common, Fuchs said. "The upper Midwest was the exception, where temperatures were 2 to 4 degrees above normal for the month. Much of the region was dry in March, with typical departures of up to 2 inches below normal.
"Areas of southern Missouri, southern Illinois, Kentucky, southern Indiana and Ohio were 2 to 4 inches wetter than usual," he added. "The warm and dry conditions over the upper Midwest led to a significant expansion of drought in March."
Fuchs told The Associated Press the recent rain in Iowa, Illinois and Kentucky was a change from the last few years, "when too much rain left many farmers in parts of Iowa and Illinois unable to plant or work in their fields.
"The dryness is kind of a double-edged sword," he explained. "They can get into the fields without fighting the wetness that traditionally for the last few years has been hampering some producers. But by the same token, dryness could start causing a problem down the road."
The report also said dry conditions dominated the West and portions of the Southeast, with above-normal precipitation recorded from Texas up through Kentucky and into the Mid-Atlantic states during March, with departures of up to 8 inches above normal in portions of eastern Texas and southwestern Arkansas.
Fuchs predicted the persistence and intensification of drought during April is expected. "Forecasters anticipate further development of drought in South Dakota and Nebraska, while some improvements are likely over the Gulf Coast and east Texas," he said.
