Midwest Overview - July, 2005

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Wisconsin Drought Relief, Missouri Drought Intensification

July 2005 was a bit wetter than it's predessors, but not enough to reverse the slide towards extreme drought that now dominates Missouri and Illinois. Precipitation totals were generous in southern Wisconsin, and much of the eastern Midwest, helping to keep drought from spreading east-west (Figure 1). However, a large portion of northern Missouri received less than 50% of normal rains, leading to intensified drying (Figure 2). The temperatures averaged to be close to normal (Figure 3), but there was an intense heat wave in the latter part of the month that took at least 4 lives. Given the lower precipitation totals and heat, the drought conditions did deteriorate further in Missouri, leading to a major expansion of the area labeled as being in extreme drought in the U.S. Drought Monitor map red area in Figure 4, National Drought Mitigation Center). The federal Department of Agriculture declared a state of disaster for agriculture in Illinois on July 27, 2005, and this made farmers in all but one county (Alexander County in far southwestern Illinois) eligible for emergency low-interest loans.