What is a flash drought and why is one impacting the Upper Midwest?

AccuWeather

There can be benefits and drawbacks, but one thing is certain: the Upper Midwest is facing a very noticeable shortage of rain this fall

Transcript

00:00We have AccuWeather regional expert Brandon Buckingham and you know Brandon what's occurring

00:05right now across the upper midwest and of course you're a resident of the region it is something

00:10that we've seen before let's talk about the term flash drought what is it and how common are they?

00:20Yeah Bernie taking a look at this flash drought it's a just quick turn over towards that dry

00:25weather that rapidly kind of dries the ground out this is often accompanied by very low dew

00:31points or low humidity levels that can just dry out that soil and and really ramp up those drought

00:37conditions rather quickly. Yeah and we've seen it before Brandon this is the term that we heard just

00:43a couple of months ago. Yeah just a few months ago back in the mid-atlantic particularly across

00:50the Shenandoah Valley and across you know nearby areas that you know they quickly turn into

00:57moderate and even extreme drought in parts of those areas and taking a look at the latest

01:01drought monitor we have seen a kind of rapid increase in that abnormally dry category and as

01:08we cross through the next few weeks if this pattern sticks around I would not be very surprised to see

01:14that quickly expand across the midwest. You know Brandon it's been a it's been a very peculiar

01:20summer in the midwest you know we had a decent amounts of rain during the month of July in fact

01:24the the the corn crop and the soybean crop did very well this year but boy has things

01:31changed over the last 30 days I mean this is pretty eye-popping on how dry it's been.

01:37Yeah absolutely that quick turn towards that dryness again through May, June, July and even

01:42into parts of August we did see appreciable amounts of rain the you know the corn crop

01:47the soybean crops have done very well so far this year and this is you know in some aspects

01:53beneficial for especially agriculture interests as we begin to work our way into the harvest season

01:59but this does have some issues that comes along with it as well. Yeah in fact let's take a look

02:04at some of the positive impacts now I have to ask you personally personally I know you're a big

02:09fisherman is this something or do you feel like a lot of the residents of the midwest are enjoying

02:16or is it just starting to get a little too dry for everybody's like? This is it definitely depends on

02:23who you ask some people love the extension of the summer weather myself personally as I progress in

02:29into the month of September I personally enjoy those cooler days more frequent episodes of

02:33rain and yes as it comes to the salmon season for fishing here in the Great Lakes region

02:39I'd love to see just a little bit more water in those area rivers. Now there are probably I mean

02:45you do have the benefits but boy when it starts getting dry like this there are likely more

02:51negative negative impacts from the flash drought. Yeah and taking a look at that first bullet point

02:58that's one of the big ones here lowering river levels and streams not just for the smaller

03:03streams but you get to the middle and upper stretches of the Mississippi the Missouri River

03:07where there's shipping and logistics interests that can definitely put a pinch on your wallet

03:12at the end of the day as it costs those shipping boats just more money and they're not able to

03:17carry as much you know I guess items with them up and down those rivers they just you know can't

03:26carry as much again they're sitting lower in those rivers they can't make it through the rivers

03:30and then even working down that increased water usage you're gonna have to set those sprinklers

03:35out we haven't had to do it a whole lot this summer but again I said one week two weeks go

03:41by without any rain you're definitely going to notice it in the grass. And the other thing is

03:45that increased fire danger so listen it doesn't look like we're looking at much rain here over

03:50the next week to 10 days Brandon so unfortunately I think things are going to get far worse

03:54before they get any better. All right Brandon Buckingham our regional expert across the midwest

04:00you'll see him out on Lake Michigan doing some fishing I'm certainly this weekend thanks Brandon.

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