Drought — Richland, Wisconsin

2023-09-01 to 2023-09-30 · Richland, Wisconsin

Event narrative

Ongoing drier than normal conditions, comprised of 8 weeks of at least extreme drought (D3), worsened to exceptional drought (D4) for parts of Richland County at the start of September. Rainfall totals under a quarter of an inch through September 11th were 1.5 inches below normal for the time period. The resultant topsoil moisture was 50% below normal. Volunteer observers reported widespread impacts to pastures and crops throughout Richland County. Reports included very limited pasture growth for grazing livestock, forcing farmers to acquire supplemental feed. The extremely dry soils created difficulties for ground work, as the clay became impenetrable. The increased longevity of abnormally dry conditions also decreased water levels along the Wisconsin River to 10% of normal, marooning and killing many mussels along its banks. Through the second half of the month, a series of storms provided multiple days of heavy rain with totals nearing 3 inches in spots, up to 3 inches above normal for the time period. This above normal rainfall resulted in downgrading of the exceptional drought (D4) area to extreme drought (D3), with severe drought (D2) persisting across the remainder of the county through late September. Due to the drought, the United States Department of Agriculture declared Richland County as a primary natural disaster area on July 25th.

Wider weather episode

Drought conditions initially worsened across western and central Wisconsin during the first half of September before slightly alleviating towards the end of the month. Persistent abnormally dry conditions resulted in most of western into central Wisconsin experiencing at least severe drought (D2) at the start of September, with more than half of the area in at least extreme drought (D3). September rainfall totals were highly variable, ranging from 2.5 to 8 inches across the area. Accompanying rainfall departures varied from 2 inches below normal along the Mississippi River Valley to 4 inches above normal in central Wisconsin. Through the middle of the month, topsoil moisture was less than half of normal. Unirrigated crops either died or were stunted. Corn silage had to be cut weeks early due to the lack of moisture. Well below normal water levels created difficulties for cranberry farmers during the harvest in central Wisconsin and also resulted in a mass die-off of clams along the Wisconsin River. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources placed all of southern Wisconsin in high fire danger, implementing burn restrictions for applicable areas. Additionally, many towns frequently issued temporary fire bans due to the widespread dry grasses. A series of storms through the latter half of the month provided near 7 of rainfall from western into west-central Wisconsin, up to 4 above normal for the time period in spots. During this time, a prolonged event featuring multiple storms provided periodic heavy rain from September 22nd into September 26th. The highest 24 hour total rainfall reports included 5.45 near Lemonweir (Juneau County), 4.8 near Burns (La Crosse County), and 4.1 near Platteville (Grant County). The heavy rain helped to slightly reduce drought severity across much of the area, eliminating the exceptional drought (D4) while also reducing the area of extreme drought (D3) and severe drought (D2).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1139934. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.