Drought conditions stretch across much of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, with a portion of mid-Michigan in a severe drought.
The hardest-hit areas include a band running east from Lake Michigan to Huron and Tuscola counties.
About two-thirds of lower Michigan is either abnormally dry — on the precipice of drought — or in a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which is run by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the federal Agriculture Department, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
There are also abnormally dry conditions in the Upper Peninsula around the Menominee and Delta County areas.
These conditions date back to last winter, according to Jaclyn Anderson, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“We do have a number of areas that are about two to four inches below normal [precipitation] for this time of year, and that dates back to January,” Anderson said. “So that's kind of when the drought conditions became a little bit more prominent, especially up in central portions of Lower Michigan.”
Within the past five years, Michigan has experienced “pronounced periods of these drought conditions,” Anderson said. She said the current drought, though, is longer and more widespread across the state.
The past couple weeks in Michigan have left the air dry and much warmer than typical fall temperatures.
Areas surrounding Detroit, Saginaw, and Flint received about two inches less precipitation than usual this year.
As a result of the droughts, Michigan’s rivers, streams, and creeks run much lower, potentially hurting aquatic life. The dry environment also poses a higher risk for wildfires and can harm agricultural production.
Drought conditions are expected to continue — even with some rain in the forecast for parts of the state in the next few days, it's not likely to make up for the overall low precipitation this year.
