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Severe drought conditions persist in parts of Michigan, Iowa, Illinois
 
By Michele F. Mihaljevich
Indiana Correspondent

LINCOLN, Neb. – The drought conditions impacting nearly all of Michigan and parts of Iowa have worsened since late March, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor.
The June 10 drought map indicates severe to moderate drought conditions in most of Michigan’s lower peninsula. Severe to moderate conditions were also found in most of Iowa’s northern half and in far northeastern Illinois. A small portion in the northern tip of Michigan’s lower peninsula was rated abnormally dry, as were a part of the upper peninsula and a large portion of Iowa’s southern half.
Smaller areas of abnormally dry conditions were also located in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.
“Michigan had a large expansion of severe drought and moderate drought as well as an expansion of abnormally dry conditions in the upper peninsula,” noted a summary on the Drought Monitor website. “Moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions expanded in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, where almost the entire region of each state saw degradation.”
All of Michigan’s lower peninsula has been considered at least abnormally dry since the March 25 drought monitor. The first map showing signs of severe drought was released May 20. In Iowa, a small section in the northwestern part of the state was in extreme drought since last fall until it was lowered to severe on the April 15 map. The area has remained in a severe drought but the size of the area was expanded on the most recent map, as was the size of the area considered in moderate drought.
The lack of precipitation allowed many farmers in southwestern Michigan to get their crops planted early, said Mike Staton, Michigan State University (MSU) Extension soybean educator. “The dry weather is starting to present challenges. The dryness began last fall, when we had some of the best conditions that we’ve had in any fall. It was good for harvest and good for field work. After that, a lack of snowfall reduced our recharge (of moisture) in the subsoil. It wasn’t a problem until we got into the annual crop season.”
The biggest challenge was getting the seed out of the ground, he explained. Once soybeans emerged, they can tolerate dry conditions. “It was a challenging spring. We had some freezes and soybeans had a problem with corn seed maggots. I talked with three producers in the area. They would take this spring over many others. They got their planting done early. There’s optimism out there.”
There is less optimism about forage, Staton said. “We’re really concerned. This could be setting the stage for a shortage of feed for livestock. It seems to be, in Michigan, the biggest drought related issue.”
Farmers are expressing some worry about their crops but haven’t reached the level of super pessimism, said Bruce MacKellar, MSU Extension field crops educator. “The (precipitation) situation has gotten worse. There’s no substantial subsoil moisture in places. The crops are small right now. We’re going to be in a world of hurt (if we don’t get rain).”
Corn plants are working on creating root systems, he said. “In reality, there’s not a lot of moisture down there for them to tap. The seed sat in the ground for a couple of weeks, it just didn’t germinate. Most places, right now, they don’t need a lot of water. But we’re at the cusp of starting to use more water.”
Once soybeans are out of the ground and set the taproot, they’re pretty tough, Staton said. “The most vulnerable stage begins in earnest in July. It would be helpful then to get rain. If we get timely rains in June and July, this dryness will be forgotten. Late July and early August are the key.”
It’s been dry in northwestern Iowa since July 2020, said Paul Kassel, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach field agronomist. Despite the dryness, the crops look beautiful, he said, due to early planting. “The drought monitor says we’re in D-2 (severe drought), but I don’t know if we’re quite as bad as that shows. Subsoil moisture is normal to above normal. I’ll be concerned if it stays like this as we go into the 1st of July. There are a lot of nervous people, though – grain traders, people like me, farmers. The level of concern is pretty high.”
The Drought Monitor was created in 1999 as a collaboration between the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the USDA. It is released on Thursdays. Each map includes weather conditions as of the previous Tuesday morning.
Dryness and drought in several areas of the country didn’t allow for moisture replenishment over the winter, said Brian A. Fuchs, a climatologist with the NDMC. “We normally look for that recharge,” he explained. “The real kicker is we started to see some heat in the Upper Midwest and Plains.”
For Michigan especially and much of the Midwestern states, Fuchs said, “without precipitation, even normal precipitation, we’re likely going to see drought conditions worsen and intensify.”
Fuchs likened the conditions to those in 2012. By August of that year, most of the center of the country was in exceptional or extreme drought. “That year, drought conditions started to develop in June and especially in July. This is kind of similar to the stage that was set at the time. We aren’t too much different than what we saw in 2012.”
NDMC staff count on reports from more than 500 observers across the country to validate the accuracy of the maps, Fuchs said. To view the latest drought monitor, visit https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/. Archived maps are available under the “maps” tab at the top.
6/14/2021