Illinois climatologist: Rain won’t change drought conditions

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Rain fell for the first time in weeks in parts of Central Illinois, but it won’t be enough to end the drought and we’ll continue to see the effects of the drought for the foreseeable future.

State climatologist Trent Ford said he was getting readings of less than an inch in areas that got rain on Tuesday.

Ford said one good thing about the dreary wet weather is that it’ll reduce evaporation due to cloud cover. But, Ford also said it’ll take a lot more rain than what we saw to reverse the drought conditions.

“What we need is not just one big event, but several wet months consecutively throughout the rest of the fall, the winter into the spring to kind of dig us out of the, you know, the deficit that we have right now,” Ford said.

The misting we got will most likely put a hold on field fires for a couple of days, but after that, the risk will return. The lack of rain has been straining our river systems, and the implications could carry on through next spring.

Ford said the drought could hurt communities’ water supplies… especially towns who use reservoirs.