With early US corn planting underway, Midwest moisture conditions are looking up.
Thursday’s US drought monitor showed just under 43% of the Midwest region being impacted by abnormally dry or drought conditions as of Tuesday. That is down a hefty 20 points from just a week earlier and the lowest since late August. Meanwhile, only about 15% of the region was in actual drought, compared to around 28% the previous week.
The week-over-week improvement in moisture conditions was attributed to severe and multi-day storm event that dropped anywhere from 2 to more than 18 inches of precipitation across portions of Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. The rainfall improved conditions in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and southern Michigan. Elsewhere in the Midwest region, above-normal precipitation during the past 30-90 days led to reductions in areas of drought in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and northern Michigan, the drought monitor added.
However, the storm did little to improve conditions in the No. 1 corn production state of Iowa. According to the drought monitor, around 79% of the state was still being impacted by abnormal dryness or drought as of Tuesday, down just fractionally from a week earlier. As can be seen on the map below, abnormal dryness and drought also encompasses much of Minnesota, a top 5 corn production state.
On the other hand, abnormal dryness and drought in No. 2 producer Illinois fell to about 36% from 67% the previous week, while that portion of the state impacted by drought dropped to only 7% from 25%.
Cooler temperatures have limited the amount of drying this week in the wettest Midwest areas in the south-central and southeast, keeping many farmers out of the fields. Relatively drier weather is expected next week, although some scattered showers and thunderstorms are still likely, especially late Wednesday and into Thursday.
