AMES, IA – The director of the USDA’s Midwest Climate Hub says widespread drought conditions will likely carryover into the New Year.
Dennis Todey says drought changes move slower in the winter. He says there aren’t as many big moisture events to improve drought conditions and conditions don’t worsen as quickly, which means the current drought situation is a concern.
“There are areas that are very dry and have reached a point where we need lots of water, any kind of water at this point.”
Todey told Brownfield Ag News that warmer and drier conditions are in the forecast between now and the end of the year across the High Plains and Midwest.
“A lot of that will be nice, not being as bitterly cold. But there’s not a whole lot of surface water available. From a precipitation side, the main area that has a chance of decent precipitation is more of the Central Plains.”
He says there are chances of light moisture in Minnesota, Wisconsin and parts of Iowa, but big changes aren’t expected in drought conditions in the next two weeks.
