(The Center Square) – Many areas of Illinois recently received some much needed rain, but drought conditions continue for much of the state.
April 1 through June 30 was the 11th driest period for Illinois since record keeping began in the early 1800s.
“A majority of the state of Illinois is in drought right now and as far as the extent and the severity is concerned, when you combine those two, it is definitely the worst that we’ve been since the 2012 drought,” said Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford to The Center Square.
Over 92% of the state is in a drought, making Illinois the second worst state in the country. According to the U.S. drought monitor, only Missouri has a higher percentage of counties dealing with drought than Illinois.
Ford said hopefully areas that could get rain this week will give a boost to corn and bean crops to get them through the dog days of summer.
“In those places that have caught the rain in the last couple of weeks and hopefully will get some rain this week, that soil moisture can hopefully carry us through some drier times in late July,” said Ford.
He said recent heavy rains in northern Illinois didn’t alleviate the drought, but made a dent. Ford said it is not ideal to receive 8 inches of rain in a single day because around 2 inches soaks in and the rest runs off.
The only areas of Illinois not considered to be in a drought or abnormally dry are parts of Sangamon, Christian, Macoupin and Montgomery counties.
Over a quarter of the continental U.S. is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought.
