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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.
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