Extreme drought conditions now found in central part of state

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There’s both good news and bad news in this week’s update of Wisconsin’s drought conditions. The U.S. Drought Monitor says the northern half of Door County is no longer abnormally dry – and that means all of Wisconsin is no longer in some stage of drought, even though 99-percent still is. The bad news is that part of central Wisconsin is in an extreme drought for the first time this year.

It’s roughly-bounded by Black River Falls, Warrens, Mauston, Adams-Friendship, and Babcock in Wood County. And it covers parts of Jackson, Monroe, Juneau, and Adams counties as well as Wood. Otherwise, the drought map looks pretty much like it did a week ago. Abnormally dry conditions exist north of a line from Siren to Wausau to Manitowoc. Most of far southern Wisconsin is also in an extreme drought. The rest of the state has moderate to severe drought conditions.

Two more drought-stricken counties in Wisconsin have been declared as federal disaster areas. Wood and Clark counties in central Wisconsin have been added to the list of places where farmers can get low-interest federal loans to cover their crop losses. And as always, the surrounding counties will also be eligible for the special Farm Service Agency loans. In this case, the contiguous counties are Adams, Portage, Marathon, Taylor, Chippewa, Eau Claire, Jackson, and Juneau. Much of the southern two-thirds of Wisconsin is now eligible for federal drought-related farm aid.

The dry weather will continue for the foreseeable future. The state forecast does not mention the words “rain” or “showers” at least through Monday.

Tags: news, wisconsin, weather, agriculture