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Drought in Lower Lakes/Ohio Valley


Geos

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I have to add it up, but I've had about 3.5" of moisture this month! Probably on the next update the D1 area will be trimmed back towards the Rock River. Would think lower MI is out of the D0 now too.

I'm speculating here but I wonder if there is some reluctance to change things too much until the impact of snow melt is known. With the ground/subsurface being frozen in many areas and the moisture tied up in the snowpack it might make sense to err on the conservative side.

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I'm speculating here but I wonder if there is some reluctance to change things too much until the impact of snow melt is known. With the ground/subsurface being frozen in many areas and the moisture tied up in the snowpack it might make sense to err on the conservative side.

In the next week at least it looks like almost all the water will remain locked in place with the only melting from sunshine. So hopefully all the moisture sitting out there now will slowly infiltrate into the ground. The ground is frozen no doubt.

Some of the precip. did miss the cutoff time - in fact all of it did on Tuesday north of LAF.

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I have to add it up, but I've had about 3.5" of moisture this month! Probably on the next update the D1 area will be trimmed back towards the Rock River. Would think lower MI is out of the D0 now too.

Yea, theres no drought here.... I thought that 2 updates ago though.

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Some you fail to realize this is long term, not short term. So while the short term has been wetter and helping the overall situation, long term affects are still there...though they are slowy fading.

Also gotta realize the time scale that's considered "long term" for drought is different then what we typically use for the long range wx threads.

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MI and most of the drought area is designated as L on the map which means long term dryness. It takes longer to resolve.

I get that its a longterm deal. But its never seemed like we were in a drought, other than the usual summer dry spells which are common. 2011 was the all-time wettest year on record at Detroit and it seems like by spring 2012 we were in "dry" on the monitor. I always thought of droughts main cause as being a long period of a deficit of precipitation, but thats not the case here. 2011 was WAY wetter than normal, 2012 somewhat drier than normal (but didnt even crack the top 20 driest years) and 2013 is right back to being wet.

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I get that its a longterm deal. But its never seemed like we were in a drought, other than the usual summer dry spells which are common. 2011 was the all-time wettest year on record at Detroit and it seems like by spring 2012 we were in "dry" on the monitor. I always thought of droughts main cause as being a long period of a deficit of precipitation, but thats not the case here. 2011 was WAY wetter than normal, 2012 somewhat drier than normal (but didnt even crack the top 20 driest years) and 2013 is right back to being wet.

You have not been too many area lakes have you? Farmers around these parts are freaked, you can gather that by reading MSU agro forums. We are and continue to feel the effects of long term dryness around here. Its a drought.

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There are no quick fixes with this ongoing drought, but the 0z GEFS remain consistent on the pattern remaining active for the next two weeks for the Plains states...and eastward. Have to keep adding it up, little by little...

 

1-5 day totals

 

6-10 day totals

 

11-15 days

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I get that its a longterm deal. But its never seemed like we were in a drought, other than the usual summer dry spells which are common. 2011 was the all-time wettest year on record at Detroit and it seems like by spring 2012 we were in "dry" on the monitor. I always thought of droughts main cause as being a long period of a deficit of precipitation, but thats not the case here. 2011 was WAY wetter than normal, 2012 somewhat drier than normal (but didnt even crack the top 20 driest years) and 2013 is right back to being wet.

 

It seems to me the heat is also factored in.  Hot and dry will do more damage than cool and dry.  SE MI was on the very fringe anyways.  My area and especially SW towards the Indiana border were bad.  Last fall was still very dry.  Pretty major improvement this winter though with plenty of rain and snow since January 1st.

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MKX has declared the drought is over for their region.

Soil moisture has really increased with moisture amounts over 9" this year so far.

 

 

AXUS73 KMKX 211520
DGTMKX

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
1020 AM CDT THU MAR 21 2013

...THE DROUGHT HAS ENDED OVER FAR SOUTHERN WISCONSIN...

.SYNOPSIS...A VERY WET AND SNOWY WINTER WHICH HAS CONTINUED INTO
MARCH HAS GIVEN SOUTHERN WISCONSIN THE NECESSARY AMOUNT OF MOISTURE
TO END THE DROUGHT. SUFFICIENT SOIL MOISTURE IS EXPECTED FOR THE
BEGINNING OF THE GROWING SEASON ONCE IT BEGINS.  
 
.LOCAL AREA AFFECTED...A DROUGHT IS NO LONGER OCCURRING OVER 
SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHEAST...OR EAST CENTRAL WISCONSIN.   

.CLIMATE SUMMARY...WELL ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION HAS FALLEN THIS
WINTER INTO EARLY SPRING WITH 8 TO 12 INCHES OF LIQUID EQUIVALENT
PRECIPITATION. THIS IS 3 TO 5 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL OR 150 TO 185
PERCENT ABOVE NORMAL. 

PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS ACROSS SOUTHERN WISCONSIN
FROM DECEMBER 1 2012 THROUGH MARCH 20 2013...

CITY            COUNTY           PCPN       SURPLUS/DEFICIT

NWS SULLIVAN    JEFFERSON       11.34            4.89
MILWAUKEE       MILWAUKEE       11.69            4.91
MADISON         DANE            10.24            4.55
RACINE          RACINE           9.56            4.28
KENOSHA         KENOSHA          9.10            3.41

.SOIL MOISTURE CONDITIONS...SOIL MOISTURE HAS IMPROVED GREATLY DUE
TO A WET WINTER. SUFFICIENT SOIL MOISTURE IS EXPECTED FOR THE START
OF THE GROWING SEASON. 

.GROUND WATER IMPACTS...WELL WATER LEVELS HAVE RISEN THIS WINTER AND
WILL RISE MORE ONCE THE SNOW MELTS AND THE GROUND THAWS. 

.RIVER AND STREAM FLOW CONDITIONS...WELL ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION
HAS FALLEN THIS WINTER ACROSS SOUTHERN WISCONSIN. SEVERAL ROUNDS OF
SNOW MELTS AND RAIN EVENTS HAVE RESULTED IN NORMAL TO ABOVE NORMAL
FLOWS ON AREA RIVERS.

.AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS...SUFFICIENT SOIL MOISTURE IS EXPECTED FOR THE
START OF THE GROWING SEASON.        

FOR MORE DETAILS ON THE CONDITION OF THE CROPS...PLEASE REFER TO THE
USDA WISCONSIN CROP PROGRESS REPORT AT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE
ADDRESS...

WWW.NASS.USDA.GOV/STATISTICS_BY_STATE/WISCONSIN/PUBLICATIONS/
CROP_PROGRESS_&_CONDITION/2012/CWCURR.PDF

.FIRE DANGER IMPACTS...SOUTHERN WISCONSIN IS CLASSIFIED AS LOW FIRE
DANGER BY THE WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES...DUE TO THE
SNOW COVER AND OVERALL WINTER CONDITIONS.  

.PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK...VERY COLD TEMPERATURES EARLY
THIS SPRING ARE EXPECTED TO WARM TO NEAR NORMAL OR POSSIBLY SLIGHTLY
ABOVE NORMAL BY LATE APRIL OR MAY. THERE ARE SLIGHTLY HIGHER
PROBABILITIES OF ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION TO CONTINUE THIS
SPRING.  

FOR MORE DETAILS ON THE PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK FOR
NOVEMBER AND WINTER...PLEASE VISIT THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER
WEBSITE...

HTTP://WWW.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV

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  • 2 weeks later...

Pretty dry first 40 days of meteorological Spring in the state of Indiana. Not good.  

 

Bloomington

April: 0.30" -1.08"

Since March 1: 2.54" -2.72"

 

Evansville

April: T -1.20"

Since March 1: 4.08" -1.36"

 

Fort Wayne

April: 0.03" -1.04"

Since March 1: 2.37" -1.41"

 

Indianapolis

April: T -1.10"

Since March 1: 1.96" -2.70"

 

Indianapolis Eagle Creek

April: T -1.07"

Since March 1: 1.46" -2.91"

 

Lafayette

April: 0.03" -0.90"

Since March 1: 1.28" -2.32"

 

Muncie

April: T -1.10"

Since March 1: 1.23" -2.82"

 

Shelbyville

April: T -1.09"

Since March 1: 1.26" -3.26"

 

South Bend

April: 0.15" -0.76"

Since March 1: 1.41" -1.92"

 

Terre Haute

April: 0.09" -0.81"

Since March 1: 1.62" -2.65"

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D0 completely out of this area now. Looking good for most of our subforum. That patch west of Toledo will be history on the next update.

 

midwest_dm.png

 

 

Same thing here with the D0.  Should see some decent improvements to the west/nw on out into the central/N.Plains on next weeks update and possibly the week after as well.

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Local precipitation comparison at LAF, last year versus this year through April.

 

January 2012: 2.31" +0.45"

February 2012: 1.24" -0.52"

March 2012: 1.92" -0.75"

April 2012: 2.29" -1.25"

Total: 7.76" -2.07"

 

January 2013: 3.67" +1.81"

February 2013: 2.28" +0.52"

March 2013: 1.25" -1.42"

April 2013: 3.33" +1.57" (through 5:00pm today)

Total: 10.53" +2.48"

 

We're probably in even better shape, locally, considering LAF lowballed the March 24-25 snowstorm...recording only 0.52" liquid with 10.0-11.5" snowfall amounts.  

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