The U.S. Drought Monitor has reduced the area in drought for Illinois (first map below). Generous rainfall in recent weeks (second map) along the northern and southern borders of the drought led to the reductions. It also helps that cooler temperatures and maturing field crops have reduced the demand on soil moisture.
Soil moisture measurements from a network of sites operated by the Illinois State Water Survey confirmed that soil moisture was recovering by September 28. The table below list the soil moisture at 2, 4, and 8 inches and are a percentage of the water by volume. For example, “24” at 2 inches in Belleville means that the water content of the soil at that point is 24 percent. For most soils in Illinois, values of 30 percent or more mean plenty of soil moisture, values in the 20 percent range are a little dry, and values in the 10 percent range are very dry. The very low values at Kilbourne are typical of the very sandy soil there. They tend to drain very quickly and are only high right after a significant rainfall events.
Location 2 in 4 in 8 in Belleville 24 28 27 Big Bend 24 29 23 Bondville 17 17 33 Brownstown 24 22 23 Champaign 21 31 32 Carbondale 28 34 32 DeKalb 38 37 38 Dixon Springs 33 36 38 Fairfield 37 34 35 Freeport 36 37 42 Kilbourne 3 4 3 Monmouth 24 30 24 Olney 26 30 32 Peoria 32 35 35 Perry 17 15 18 Springfield 25 23 14 Stelle 32 34 29 St. Charles 33 38 39 Rend Lake 26 39 40
