LANSING, Mich. — The rate at which the drought is developing and expanding is setting records from week to week across Michigan. With not much rain in the forecast, the drought could be exacerbated in the coming days.
It seems like a lot longer than two month ago when we were experiencing flooding across parts of the Mitten. Ever since the rain stopped back then, it really stopped. May and June are usually our wettest months of the year. However, in 2023, they could end up being some of our driest. By a long shot at that!
Let's take a quick look back at the rain Lansing has received in the past few weeks. The amounts listed at greater than a one hundredth of an inch.
June 11th - 0.14"
May 19th - 0.16"
May 8th - 0.04"
May 7th - 0.32"
May 2nd - 0.09"
May 1st - 0.33"
Most of what fell in April was toward the earlier part of the month with 10/11 days in the middle of the month reporting measurable moisture. So like I said, when it stopped raining, it really stopped raining. May ended -2.70" below normal in Lansing with June coming in already -1.60" below normal. That's -4.30" in 45 days.
Therefore, the ground moisture is virtually non-existent. Check out the 20cm soil moisture that was released with the latest drought conditions on Thursday.
Soil moisture is a large factor taken into consideration for drought conditions. This helps explain why we saw the rapid onset of moderate drought across the state of Michigan. In fact, the onset was so rapid it set a record. It was the second quickest time an area of drought developed this rapidly in Michigan since the year 2000.
Sadly the outlooks in many of our models show virtually no rain for 7-10days. As a strong El Nino continues to develop in the Pacific, this could lead to more dry weather as the effects start to be felt by late summer and into the fall and winter months.
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