Category: Agriculture

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Agricultural Disaster Declaration for Illinois

Governor Quinn announced yesterday that federal disaster assistance is available to help Illinois farmers who suffered crop losses due to flooding this year (full press release).

As noted in the press release, the January-June period was the 4th wettest on record (27.2 inches, 8 inches above average) and an April that was the wettest on record with 7.59 inches.

I have generated a file with the monthly precipitation for 2011 for all available NWS cooperative observer sites in Illinois. The new 1981-2010 monthly precipitation normals for Illinois are posted as well. Additional precipitation data can be found at cocorahs.org using their precipitation summary product. It works best if you select your county and not the state. 

January-June 2011 precipitation
January-June 2011 precipitation for Illinois. The heaviest totals were in southern Illinois. Click to enlarge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January-June 2011 precipitation departure
January-June 2011 precipitation departure from average for Illinois. Areas in blue had precipitation that was at least 12 inches above average. Click to enlarge.
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Return of the Soil Moisture in Illinois

The natural rhythm of soil moisture in Illinois is to be abundant in spring (sometimes to the point of water standing in fields), followed by a prolonged draw-down during the growing season. Historically, soils are usually at their driest at the end of August and early September. However, soil moisture begins to recover in the September/October time frame as the temperatures cool and crops are harvested, even if rains are below average.
We are seeing some recovery in soil moisture now, according to our soil moisture network maintained at the Illinois State Water Survey. Here is the average soil moisture in the top 20 inches, expressed as a percent of what we saw on June 1 when soil moisture was very high. In other words, values near 100% show a near full recovery while values less than 100% need more rain to recover.

  • Belleville: 88%
  • Big Bend: 93%
  • Bondville: 57%
  • Brownstown: 68%
  • Champaign: 75%
  • Carbondale: 52%
  • DeKalb: 75%
  • Dixon Springs: 106%
  • Fairfield: 89%
  • Freeport: 86%
  • Monmouth: 55%
  • Olney: 78%
  • Peoria: 87%
  • Perry: 47%
  • Springfield: 67%
  • Stelle: 71%
  • St. Charles: 58%
  • Rend Lake: 71%
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Possible Frost Wednesday Night in Northwest Illinois

The National Weather Service office in Davenport has issued this statement of a possible frost on Wednesday night:

Canadian high pressure will bring the threat of an early season frost by late Wednesday night. Areas along and north of Interstate 80 may dip down into the middle to lower 30s after midnight. These kind of temperatures will produce patchy to areas of frost by early Thursday morning. People in these areas should plan ahead and be ready to take the necessary precautions to prevent damage to cold sensitive vegetation. A Frost Advisory may eventually be issued for portions of the area. North winds maintaining 5 to 10 mph will help keep temperatures in the upper 30s south of I-80 and thus limit the frost potential in those areas.Normal 1st 32 degree temperatures range occur around early October in Northeast Iowa and Northwest Illinois, to mid October in West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri.

You can check freezing temperatures from around the Midwest at the Midwestern Regional Climate Center…

Frost and Freeze map for the Midwest, using temperature thresholds of 32 and 28 degrees. Courtesy of Midwestern Regional Climate Center.