Breaking down the US Drought Monitor

QUAD CITIES, Iowa/Ill. (KWQC) - The lack of rainfall over the past couple months is a little abnormal for the quad cities area this time of year.

Historically, May and June are the wettest months in the quad cities.

Right now, precipitation is running a little more than 5 and a half inches below average, and that has led to a rapid onset of drought in our area.

Drought is defined as “a deficiency of moisture that results in adverse impacts on people, animals or vegetation over a sizeable area.”

The latest drought monitor released June 8 shows the entire tv6 viewing area experiencing abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions.

There are five levels of drought on the us drought monitor, released every Thursday.

Abnormally dry, moderate, severe, extreme and exceptional.

The impacts from drought differ from state-to-state.

Right now, soil moisture is declining and corn starts to show stress from drought.

As the drought continues to worsen, water levels in area streams will continue to decline, and crops will continue to suffer.

Some farmers have already taken steps to navigate the dry conditions.

TV6 recently spoke to a farmer from Scott County.

“When you do regular tillage in the Springtime, your tilling the soil and drying out the soil and that moisture is gone.  We go in and make a little slice for the seed to go into the ground and we seal it up right away and keep that moisture in the ground so that gives us an advantage when we get into drier times,” said Robb Ewoldt.

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