INDIANA, USA — The drought is over! Technically... And temporarily...
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It's been a stormy July so far, but those storms have brought much needed to rain to parts of Indiana. Much of the state has picked up 4-8 inches the past 30 days (as of July 18th). Normally this time of year we pick up about 4 inches. Much of the state has picked up a couple more inches of rainfall than normal this July so far, which is impressive as the drier summer months continue.
While some parts of Indiana are still drier than normal, drought conditions are officially gone for now.
What does the drought map look like now?
It's a big improvement. The yellow areas show drier than normal conditions, but not technically drought. The light brown color is the first state of drought.
(Brown: creek and pond levels are low, crop growth stunted, supplemental feed for livestock becomes necessary)
Counties that officially have some drier than normal soil:
- Bartholomew
- Clay
- Dearborn
- Decatur
- Delaware
- Fountain
- Franklin
- Jackson
- Jay
- Jefferson
- Jennings
- Ohio
- Parke
- Putnam
- Randolph
- Ripley
- Scott
- Sullivan
- Switzerland
- Union
- Vermillion
- Vigo
If your county is not listed, then technically you are not listed under dry conditions as of July 16th. However there could be spots inside your county that could still use some good rainfall.
When you expand the view, drought conditions have really improved from Indiana to areas back west past the Mississippi River. In the meantime, drought conditions have worsened over Ohio and much of the Mid-Atlantic. In fact some of the worst drought conditions in the nation are in northern Virginia, just west of Washington D.C.
How much rainfall did we get?
Everyone has received something different, even inside the same down. With hit-or-miss downpours and storms recently, one side of town could get 1-2 inches more or less than the other side of town.
This rainfall amounts are pretty high for this time of year. On average we would see a lot of the yellow colors with nearly 4 inches of rain. However much of the yellow on the map is in the higher range toward 6". About half the state has picked up 7-9+ inches of rain the past 30 days (June 18 - July 18, 2024). That's pretty good.
Northern Indiana has picked up the most with nearly a foot of rainfall the past 30 days. That is more than double the average amount.
Will the drought come back?
As of right now, we have made back much of our earlier lack of rainfall. There are still some areas of Indiana that need some more. Overall we are okay on rain, but could use a tad more, especially in central and southeastern Indiana.
Looking ahead, the heat dome is likely to stay in the western United States, which will bake the West and allow the East and Midwest to get more rain and storm chances with a more active jet.
There is a small chance drought could comeback later this summer and into the fall, but at least for the next 2-4 weeks, expect some decent rain chances at times.
Many times the rain in the summer is not widespread. Individual downpours give a lot of water to some and nothing to others. Over the course of many days with pop-ups, the chance that your exact location getting at least some rainfall goes up.
The latest forecast shows a slightly higher chance for some rain the end of the month. Hopefully we can keep drought conditions away from Indiana as long as possible.