Heavy rain reaches Illinois, but drought is far from over
A map of Illinois drought conditions shows the state remains in drought despite rainfall over the past few days. Eastern Illinois continued to experience extreme drought. Courtesy of The U.S. Drought Monitor
This week, Illinois has finally experienced rainfall, but it’s not enough to alleviate the ongoing drought. Since August of last year, Central Illinois has experienced a severe drought with precipitation deficits of 15–20 inches. This has led to mandatory water restrictions in places like Bloomington and Decatur.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign graduate student Maddie Stover and Illinois State Climatologist with the Prairie Research Institute, Trent Ford talk about what it means for Illinois to still be in a drought, the agriculture and impacts in poultry and what kinds of conditions it would take to get out of it.
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