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Drought in Lower Lakes/Ohio Valley

Geos

By Geos,
in Lakes/Ohio Valley

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Entropy

Entropy

Posted
Posted

I can imagine that the bees are struggling this summer if there's no pollen to collect! Hopefully the drought will continue to shrink.

Meanwhile trouble is brewing on the Mississippi with low water levels.

Link to entire article> http://news.yahoo.co...-205415696.html

It would be really serious if water levels continue to drop for the economy of the Heartland!

Are water levels still dropping along the Mississippi? It's been pretty wet here in Ohio recently. I'd guess there's been nearly eight inches of rain since the middle of July. It was dry before that time though. There was probably less than six inches of rain over the three-month period ending in mid-July.

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Geos

Geos

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Are water levels still dropping along the Mississippi? It's been pretty wet here in Ohio recently. I'd guess there's been nearly eight inches of rain since the middle of July. It was dry before that time though. There was probably less than six inches of rain over the three-month period ending in mid-July.

Looking at this map and seeing a lot of the tributaries in the mid-Mississippi River Valley are lower than normal, I would think the river is still low.

realb.gif

usgs.gov/water

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Geos

Geos

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Updated drought monitor map:

midwest_dm.png

Not a whole lot of changes. West central OH is doing well for rainfall as of late. Parts of WI are doing better along with the I-80 corridor in Iowa. I would say from Milwaukee south along the lake the situation is a bit better than this map shows. Would say this area was more like low end D1 level now.

Still a long ways to go for the southern half of IN and about 3/4 of IL.

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SchaumburgStormer

SchaumburgStormer

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Updated drought monitor map:

midwest_dm.png

Not a whole lot of changes. West central OH is doing well for rainfall as of late. Parts of WI are doing better along with the I-80 corridor in Iowa. I would say from Milwaukee south along the lake the situation is a bit better than this map shows. Would say this area was more like low end D1 level now.

Still a long ways to go for the southern half of IN and about 3/4 of IL.

Isaac could make this map look a bit more mundane, but we need about 3 tropical remnant bullseyes to really start to change things.

My parents live in Decatur, il and state that the water restrictions are quite tough down there right now. All commercial car washes closed, no watering, only get a glass of water in a restaurant if requested. Lake has been closed for a few weeks as the water is to low to use the docks, with some boats left high and dry. Isaac would help, but this is going to be a long slow recovery.

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Geos

Geos

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Isaac could make this map look a bit more mundane, but we need about 3 tropical remnant bullseyes to really start to change things.

My parents live in Decatur, il and state that the water restrictions are quite tough down there right now. All commercial car washes closed, no watering, only get a glass of water in a restaurant if requested. Lake has been closed for a few weeks as the water is to low to use the docks, with some boats left high and dry. Isaac would help, but this is going to be a long slow recovery.

Long recovery no doubt for some areas. I think some deficits are around a foot if I'm not mistaken. If the remnants from Issac move this far north then the drought could be wiped out for the most part. Hopefully we can see tropical moisture flow into the subforum area next month.

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Hoosier

Hoosier

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Isaac could make this map look a bit more mundane, but we need about 3 tropical remnant bullseyes to really start to change things.

My parents live in Decatur, il and state that the water restrictions are quite tough down there right now. All commercial car washes closed, no watering, only get a glass of water in a restaurant if requested. Lake has been closed for a few weeks as the water is to low to use the docks, with some boats left high and dry. Isaac would help, but this is going to be a long slow recovery.

Yeah I agree. Isaac could eliminate the drought in the areas that are in the lower categories, but not in the harder hit areas that have 10-15" deficits. You really need a sustained wet pattern to correct that.

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Trent

Trent

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Parts of central Michigan are still in abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions despite having a 4th wettest summer on record. It appears extreme short term rain events don't do much to clear the map, you need sustained wetness.

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IMADreamer

IMADreamer

Posted
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We desperately need Isaac to make it here. We missed yesterdays "sure thing" of a rain. The local TV mets are driving me nuts because they basically over hype every small chance and it's like they forgot to take the drought into consideration with all of their forecasts. Basically for the last week they were saying everyone yesterday would get a good soaking and guess what, We got less then a tenth. The drought continues.

Two things I think most mets forget. To actually go outside and feel the weather for themselves and that what your weather has been is what your weather will be.

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Chicago WX

Chicago WX

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Posted

YEARLY: January 1 - August 27, 2012 precipitation totals and departures in Indiana

Bloomington*: 16.30" -16.37"

Evansville: 17.89" -12.65"

Fort Wayne: 18.86" -7.53"

Indianapolis: 22.49" -6.44"

Indianapolis Eagle Creek: 22.13" -6.05"

Muncie: 18.92" -8.55"

Shelbyville: 16.72" -13.02"

South Bend: 24.58" -0.20"

Terre Haute*: 17.54" -13.13"

Valparaiso: 18.79" -6.22"

SUMMER: June 1 - August 27, 2012 precipitation totals and departures in Indiana

Bloomington*: 4.55" -8.23"

Evansville: 6.51" -3.79"

Fort Wayne: 8.51" -3.08"

Indianapolis: 7.43" -4.10"

Indianapolis Eagle Creek: 8.99" -2.38"

Muncie: 6.68" -5.22"

Shelbyville: 3.67" -8.29"

South Bend: 13.28" +2.22"

Terre Haute*: 5.24" -6.99"

Valparaiso: 9.02" -3.01"

AUGUST 2012: precipitation totals and departures in Indiana (through the 27th)

Bloomington*: 2.89" -0.11"

Evansville: 4.02" +1.42"

Fort Wayne: 3.51" +0.32"

Indianapolis: 6.51" +3.78"

Indianapolis Eagle Creek: 8.36" +5.64"

Muncie: 3.10" +0.24"

Shelbyville: 2.96" +0.11"

South Bend: 5.26" +1.99"

Terre Haute*: 4.42" +1.42"

Valparaiso: 3.12" -0.66"

*indicates some days missing.

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daddylonglegs

daddylonglegs

Posted
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We are going to need 5-10 inches of rain this fall to recharge the soil, or so i'd imagine...its like dust right now.. I've still been watering trees, plants... that 2 inches of rain this month didn't help much...

The one thing that has helped is morning dew and shorter days...the grass really seems to respond to that, along with more shade caused by the lower sun (trees to my south).

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Jonger

Jonger

Posted
Posted
Parts of central Michigan are still in abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions despite having a 4th wettest summer on record. It appears extreme short term rain events don't do much to clear the map, you need sustained wetness.

I would have to guess that the usable water in the soil decreases rapidly. This probably means that numerous smaller rain events provide a better moisture source for plants.

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Chicago WX

Chicago WX

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Individual state numbers with the new drought monitor.

Illinois

Exceptional drought conditions decreased to 0.00% (7.82% last week)

Extreme drought conditions decreased to 6.96% (69.56% last week)

Severe drought conditions decreased to 56.33% (94.11% last week)

Indiana

Exceptional drought conditions decreased to 0.00% (10.80% last week)

Extreme drought conditions decreased to 0.00% (39.22% last week)

Severe drought conditions decreased to 54.67% (64.07% last week)

Iowa

Exceptional drought conditions increased to 2.36% (0.00% last week)

Extreme drought conditions increased to 62.15% (58.30% last week)

Severe drought conditions unchanged 100.00% (same last week)

Missouri

Exceptional drought conditions decreased to 3.01% (35.29% last week)

Extreme drought conditions decreased to 31.88% (97.44% last week)

Severe drought conditions decreased to 97.85% (100.00% last week)

Wisconsin

Extreme drought conditions decreased to 6.04% (6.18% last week)

Severe drought conditions decreased to 29.39% (29.90% last week)

Moderate drought conditions increased to 47.38% (40.74% last week)

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Geos

Geos

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Chicago wx - yeah the map has really improved. All the D4 is out of IL and IN now. - Almost all of the D3 as well.

Still can't believe that southern WI is still rated as extreme. Things are growing better then the have all year. Starting to resemble a temperate rainforest or something similar! :lmao:

Been cutting the grass twice a week for the last 3.

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cyclone77

cyclone77

Posted
Posted

Sure doesn't seem like we're borderline extreme drought here anymore like the monitor shows. Of course that's based on long term time scales. It's been wet enough lately that it's pretty green around here again. The crops are all brown but that's not uncommon this time of year. On the other hand the crop yields are gonna be far from common unfortunately.

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Geos

Geos

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Pike, Root, and Fox river I checked out today are very very low still

At the gauging stations at least the water level is normal to above normal.

http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=real&r=wi&w=map

The Pike River never really looks "normal". Unless there has been heavy rain in the last 36 hour or so, the river will be about 1-2 feet deep max.

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BowMeHunter

BowMeHunter

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Posted

when we have to get out of the john boat and push it through shallow water to get to some honey holes the river IS low. very, very low was a slight exageration and it is better than on monday when it was terribly low. and little flow.

Went back down to kenosha looking for a few trout for the smoker but the water is just a sauna right now and nothing is in. Was nice to see the mouth of the Pike had opened up since yesterday..tho nothing will be coming up until the water temps drops down to the lower 60's or so.

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Chicago WX

Chicago WX

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Posted

4.83" in September for IND, through 7:00am this morning. That's already good for the 24th wettest September on record for Indianapolis (since 1871).

According to KIND http://www.crh.noaa....=87132&source=0 , it's already the 10th wettest August-September in recorded history.

Quite the reversal, as not long ago, IND had their driest June-July in recorded history.

2012 far and away the driest June-July for Indianapolis in their recorded history (since 1871).

Driest June-July

0.92" in 2012

2.45" in 1930

2.78" in 1940

3.08" in 1991

3.41" in 1967

3.55" in 1954

3.58" in 1936

3.66" in 1922

3.67" in 1908

3.85" in 1893

3.86" in 1887

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Chicago WX

Chicago WX

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Posted

Hard to imagine there's been a lot reversals/differences like this from one year to the next. Year to date rainfall totals/departures in the PAH CWA through September 7 for 2011 and 2012.

Cape Girardeau MO

2011: 46.65" +14.83"

2012: 18.51" -13.31"

Evansville IN

2011: 45.56" +13.97"

2012: 22.04" -9.55"

Paducah KY

2011: 50.36" +17.14"

2012: 19.65" -13.57"

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B-Rent

B-Rent

Posted
Posted

Just drove through the country side, lots of standing and flowing water in places we haven't seen it in quite a while. Most of the short term affects are probably being negated. It's going to take a while to get these resivors up to summer pool to start the winter with.

Sent from my SCH-I535 2

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