Drought and dryness across the American Midwest are continuing to improve as corn and soybean planting accelerates.
Released Thursday, the latest weekly US drought monitor shows just 11% of the Midwest region was being impacted by drought as of Tuesday. That is down just a couple of points from a week earlier but continues a steady progression lower since mid-March when drought was afflicting about one-third of the region.
In fact, drought across the Midwest is now at its lowest level since late August last year, and down from more than 23% last year.
Meanwhile, further improvement is expected across much of the region over the next couple of weeks, with regular rounds of rainfall in the forecast, although not enough to seriously impede planting progress. The only real exception is the more northeastern areas, including portions of Minnesota.
According to the monitor, moderate to heavy rain fell on a sizeable area covering most of Missouri, southern Illinois, central and eastern Iowa, southeastern Minnesota, and central through southwestern Wisconsin. The heaviest amounts (4 to 8 inches) were fairly widespread across central and southwestern Missouri. Moderate to locally heavy precipitation also fell across the rest of the central and northern Great Lakes Region, central Illinois, and part of southwestern Indiana.
On the other hand, drought coverage increased in northern Minnesota, which was missed by the heavier precipitation. In the far northwestern part of the state, areas near the Canadian border have received only about half of normal precipitation for the past 1-2 months, the monitor said.
As can be seen on Midwest drought map below, the heaviest amounts of drought and abnormal dryness is now limited to the more western and northern regions.
Monday’s USDA crop progress report pegged national corn and soybean planting at 12% and 8% complete as of Sunday, respectively, both ahead of the five-year average.
