Map: Further Improvement in Midwest Drought

Drought and dryness across the American Midwest are continuing to improve as corn and soybean planting accelerates. 

Released Thursday, the latest weekly US drought monitor shows just 11% of the Midwest region was being impacted by drought as of Tuesday. That is down just a couple of points from a week earlier but continues a steady progression lower since mid-March when drought was afflicting about one-third of the region. 

In fact, drought across the Midwest is now at its lowest level since late August last year, and down from more than 23% last year. 

Meanwhile, further improvement is expected across much of the region over the next couple of weeks, with regular rounds of rainfall in the forecast, although not enough to seriously impede planting progress. The only real exception is the more northeastern areas, including portions of Minnesota. 

According to the monitor, moderate to heavy rain fell on a sizeable area covering most of Missouri, southern Illinois, central and eastern Iowa, southeastern Minnesota, and central through southwestern Wisconsin. The heaviest amounts (4 to 8 inches) were fairly widespread across central and southwestern Missouri. Moderate to locally heavy precipitation also fell across the rest of the central and northern Great Lakes Region, central Illinois, and part of southwestern Indiana.