Wet March weather improves drought conditions         

Statewide precipitation for March more than 1.5 inches above normal

[APRIL 20, 2006]  SPRINGFIELD -- The latest weather statistics announced April13 by the Illinois State Water Survey indicate above-average precipitation for the month of March across the state, finally helping offset dry conditions for the last 12 months.

"Preliminary data for Illinois indicate that 4.79 inches of precipitation fell in March -- 1.57 inches above normal, or 149 percent of normal," said Jim Angel, state climatologist. "This offsets the dry February, which was 1.05 inches below normal. As a result of the wet March, precipitation for 2006 is at 8.41 inches, which is 1.34 inches above normal." It was the 16th-wettest March since 1895.

The statewide March mean temperature of 41.4 degrees was 0.3 degrees above normal. The statewide mean temperature for 2006 is 36.7 degrees, which is 4.6 degrees above normal and the eighth-warmest January-March on record since 1895. Temperature extremes ranged from 82 degrees at Belleville on March 31 to 9 degrees at Mount Carroll on March 4. Grayville reported the heaviest one-day precipitation, 4.25 inches on March 12, as well as the highest monthly total, 10.74 inches.

"Receiving above-normal rainfall in March means that we are making headway against the drought in northern and western Illinois," Angel said. "An additional 1 to 3 inches fell in central and western Illinois in the first 11 days of April. However, subsurface soil moisture, streams and shallow groundwater remain below normal in places in that region. It may take several months of normal to above-normal precipitation to overcome the impacts of the severe precipitation deficits of 2005."

The Illinois State Water Survey, a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, will continue to monitor the situation and post updates at http://www.sws.uiuc.edu/hilites/drought/.

April is usually when the last freezing temperatures occur: April 7 for southern Illinois, April 14-21 for central Illinois and April 28 for northern Illinois. If you're planting tender annuals, add about two weeks to those dates. For more frost information, see http://www.sws.uiuc.edu/atmos/statecli/
Frost/frost.htm.

[Illinois Department of Natural Resources news release]