There is some very exciting news this week for Indiana with respect to the U.S. Drought Monitor. For the first time since April 25, 2023, the entire state is void of any Abnormally Dry (D0) or Drought (D1-D4) conditions.
Beth Hall
There was an interesting conversation among drought experts this week about how best to communicate drought, particularly when surface conditions appear so saturated.
Something exciting happened this past Monday that many of you might be glad is over and no longer filling your news feed – the total solar eclipse.
An old saying predicts that March will go out “like a lamb”. Another saying predicts April’s wetness with “April showers bring May flowers”.
Certainly, this incredible inconsistency that our atmosphere has been exposing us to is not unusual for the Midwest. That does not make it any less jarring, though, to go from needing to wear sweaters and a coat to then forgetting that coat at the office because the weather got warmer.
To say the last few months have been dry is a bit of an understatement. Since August 1st, only a sliver of Newton and Benton counties (northwest Indiana) and the tiniest speck of Warrick County (southwest Indiana) have had above-normal precipitation.
Our dry spell continues. Sure, there’s been a few passing showers, but Indiana is quickly seeing impacts magnify from the lack of rain.
Wednesday, September 6th was the first day in what seemed like a long, long time, that rain fell across most of Indiana.
We were on a good stretch where consistent and sometimes too much rainfall eliminated drought throughout Indiana.
Drought and abnormally dry conditions continue to improve across most of Indiana (Figure 1).
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