McLean County and much of central and northern Illinois is now in a moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The Bloomington-Normal area has approached record low rainfall over the last two months.
Illinois state climatologist Trent Ford said Bloomington received less than one inch of rain in September, making it the fourth driest since recordkeeping began in the 1890s. October, which has received 0.26 inches of precipitation, is currently on pace to rank as the driest since 1964.
“In some ways, it’s made for some problems with how quickly some of the grain has dried down,” Ford said. “Of course, there’s dust and fire risk, but in other ways, I think nationally we are farther ahead on soybean harvest progress that we have ever been since the USDA has been keeping stats.”
Ford said it helps that summer saw typical rainfall.
Ford said a lack of rain is less of a problem for plants and crops this time of year, but it can be a concern if dry weather persists.
“If we were to go another month or two of bone-dry conditions like we’ve had, we’d have more impacts, probably some water resource impacts, but right now given the forecast, it doesn’t look like that is going to be the case,” Ford said.
Ford expects wetter weather the next few weeks and for winter too, especially the back half of the season in February and March.
“We are expected to have a weak La Niña, we’ll see if that happens as we move into winter, but for the December-through-February three-month period for winter, right now for Central Illinois, we are showing the best signs for above normal precipitation,” Ford said, adding it's too early to say how much snow we can expect.
In a La Niña, cooler than usual waters off the Pacific Ocean can push northward, leading to more precipitation in the northern United States and drier weather further south.
Ford said winter temperatures should be close to normal, but temps will stay above average through fall.
