Data is based in the U.S. Drought Monitor maps published Feb. 29, 2024 and USDA’s Crop Progress — State Stories published Feb. 27, 2024.
Drought categories are indicated on maps below as follows:

• D3 extreme drought – Red (IA, TX, MN)

• D2 severe drought – Dark orange (WI, NE, ND, TN, CO, MI, KS)

• D1 moderate drought – Light orange (MO, NC, IL, SD)

• D0 abnormally dry – Yellow (IN, OH, PA)

• Drought Free – White (KY)

For the complete report go to .

The National Drought Mitigation Cente now estimates 67% of the U.S. corn crop and 60% of soybeans are still considered to be in drought. That’s slight improvement from last week, when 70% of corn and 63% of soybeans were covered by drought, but the improvements were minimal at a time when more of the corn crop is starting to tassel. 

USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey says the U.S. corn-in-drought percentage was actually a little higher on November 1, 2022, when 71% of the crop was considered to be in drought. But he points out that was after most of the crop had been harvested.  Today, crop conditions are drawing comparisons to 1988, but the drought monitor is showing similarities to 2012 with a few key differences. 

“The last time more corn was in drought during the heart of the growing season was, as you might expect, the summer of 2012,” says Rippey. “That year, the U.S. corn production area in drought was at or above 70% each week from July 10 through the end of the calendar year.”

Nationally, the latest drought monitor shows minimal improvements nationwide. The amount of the country considered abnormally dry now sits at 87%, nearly a 3-point improvement. D1 (moderate drought) is still parked over 63% of the U.S., less than a point better than last week. D2 (severe drought) is virtually unchanged. 

What Will it Take to Break the Drought?

With the drought building up over several months, Rippey points out it will take significantly more rain to see improvements. 

“Significant rainfall deficits built up in May and June,” says Rippey. “Recent rains are helping, but normal weekly Midwestern rainfall this time of year is roughly 1 to 1 1/3 inches per week. The two-week Drought Monitor change map shows patchy areas with improvement, mainly in the southern and eastern Corn Belt.”

Source:

The upper-level circulation over the contiguous U.S. (CONUS) during this U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) week (May 24-30) was dominated by three features: a trough over the West, a ridge that extended from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes, and a cutoff low over the Southeast. This pattern resulted in targeted areas of precipitation, some of it heavy, while large parts of the CONUS received little to no precipitation.

Pacific weather systems moved across the West, but their fronts stalled out when they ran into the ridge over the Plains. The northwesterly flow associated with the trough inhibited precipitation across parts of the West, so the week was wetter than normal only from the Great Basin to northern Rockies. A southerly flow over the Plains was created between the western trough and eastern ridge. This flow funneled Gulf of Mexico moisture across the Plains. The moisture fed thunderstorms and weather complexes that developed along the stalled-out fronts and dry lines, resulting in above-normal precipitation across western portions of the Great Plains from Texas to Montana.

Several inches of rain fell with some of these thunderstorms, resulting in localized flooding. The ridge inhibited precipitation, so a large part of the country from the Mississippi River to the Northeast received little to no precipitation. The exception to this was the Southeast, where the cutoff low pulled in Gulf and Atlantic moisture to spread above-normal precipitation across much of Florida and the Carolinas to Appalachians. Weekly temperatures averaged cooler than normal from the southern Plains to East Coast, but they were warmer than normal across the northern Plains and northern parts of the West.

Abnormal dryness or drought spread across a large part of the Midwest and Northeast, and in parts of the Pacific Northwest, Puerto Rico, and Hawaii. Drought or abnormal dryness contracted across the Florida peninsula, across large areas in the western Great Plains, and in northwest Puerto Rico.

For the complete report of drought conditions by region go to