We have been talking about the drought all summer. This has not been a typical drought for the middle of the USA. Here is the reason.
The drought has been shifting from west to east across the Plains since the end of spring. This makes it odd, because the western Plains are typically more arid than locations to the east. So, when you go into the summer with a severe to exceptional drought in the western Plains it is hard to get rid of. Our area was getting dry, but not that bad. Then, one rain after another obliterated the drought in the western Plains as the drought in our region worsened.
When the pattern can support enough rain to end a major drought in the western Plains, June through August, our area should not get drier. Droughts usually expand from the drier areas, not shift from the dry areas to the typically wetter areas. But, this has been a weird weather pattern.
The same weird weather pattern is finally starting to produce better rain events in our region, so our hope is that we can chip away at this drought as we head into the fall.
