2017 Spring Farm Magazine

37 / 44

2017 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 23, 2017 Page 37
and most of Illinois, with some areas receiving less
than a quarter of normal. Snowfall was also sparse
during the winter, with most of southern
Iowa, Missouri, southern Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and
Kentucky receiving less than a quarter of the normal
amount. Near- to above-normal snowfall fell across
most of Wisconsin, Minnesota, northern Iowa and
Michigan.
Drought increases in Missouri
While moderate drought decreased in Missouri
during January, a dry month contributed to an
increase of moderate drought coverage in February.
While less than 10 percent of the state was in
drought at the beginning of the month, nearly two-
thirds of the state was in moderate drought at the
end. Outside of Missouri, only a small part of west-
central Illinois was in drought during February.
Severe weather and
deadly tornadoes
Several days of convective
severe weather occurred in
the Midwest in February.
While most of the reports
occurred in the last week
of February, an EF-0
tornado occurred near
Cadiz, KY on February 8.
Scattered wind and hail
reports were common on February 24 in Indiana,
Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. A significant severe
weather event occurred during the evening and
overnight hours of February 28. Hundreds of wind,
hail and tornado reports were reported. Tornadoes
in Illinois and Missouri killed four people. These
were the first tornado fatalities in the Midwest since
April 2015.
***
A chart from the Illinois State Climatologist
) shows most
of Logan County as the northern edge of Illinois
counties that are abnormally dry for this time of
year. The state climatologist is reluctant to cite that
Illinois is experiencing drought conditions because
“the demand on water supplies and soil moisture
are very low in winter. In an average winter, we
have more than enough water to satisfy demand – in
many cases too much water. As a result of low water
demand, the impacts of below-normal precipitation
on water supplies, navigation, and agriculture are
harder to find in winter.”
The Illinois State Climatologist cites that “Soil
moisture looks fine in our Water Survey network
itleb
ar). However, the last USDA NASS report at the end
of February showed drier soils in parts of western
and southwestern Illinois, but that was before the
Continue 8