Drought covers large portions of the Midwest from Ohio to the Missouri River, said the weekly Drought Monitor on Thursday. Less than an inch of rain fell in eastern Nebraska during May, and half of Illinois was in drought, an increase of 20 points in one week.
“Widespread degradations occurred in the Midwest and western portions of the Northeast, amid very dry and warm recent weather,” said the report, produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska, NOAA, and the USDA. The report was based on conditions as of Tuesday.
The Midwest is the heart of U.S. production of corn and soybeans, used in meat, dairy, and egg production, as well as being used directly as food ingredients. Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Indiana, in that order, are the five top corn states, growing 60 percent of the U.S. crop. Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, and Nebraska produce 51 percent of the soybean crop.
“Drought & dryness expanded across the Midwest, Northeast, and mid-Atlantic this week,” said NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information Service on social media. “The southern Plains saw improvements, but more are needed.”
A week ago, much of Ohio and Indiana were listed as abnormally dry. Now 62 percent of Ohio and nearly 22 percent of Indiana were in “moderate” drought, the first of four increasingly intense drought categories. Some 25 percent of Wisconsin was in moderate drought, up from less than 1 percent last week.
Nearly 43 percent of Iowa was in drought, including 8 percent in “severe” drought, an increase from the predominant rating of moderate drought. Last week, 39 percent of the state was in drought. Drought covered nearly 80 percent of Nebraska, a slight improvement from 84 percent last week.
“Omaha’s May total of 0.17 inches of rain came in as the driest May on record there,” said the Drought Monitor.
The near-term forecast was for hotter and drier conditions in the upper Midwest and near to above-normal rainfall in the rest of the region.