Drought — Buffalo, Wisconsin

2023-09-05 to 2023-09-26 · Buffalo, Wisconsin

Event narrative

Ongoing drier than normal conditions persisted through the middle of September and resulted in severe drought (D2) impacting nearly all of Buffalo County. Rainfall amounts under a third of an inch through September 11th were near 1.5 inches below normal for the time period. Resultant topsoil moisture bottomed out to nearly 50% below normal. Through the second half of the month, a series of storms provided multiple days of heavy rain, nearing 4 inch totals for much of Buffalo County, nearly 1 inch above normal for the time period. The severe drought (D2) eased to moderate drought (D1) by the end of September. The United States Department of Agriculture declared Buffalo County as a contiguous natural disaster area on September 7th.

Wider weather episode

While much of southwestern Wisconsin had experienced at least severe drought (D2) conditions for several weeks by the start of September, west-central Wisconsin had been mostly spared, attributed to sporadic summer storms providing approximately 75% of normal total rainfall. Through the first half of the September, the abnormally dry conditions spread north and west into these areas with rainfall totals under a tenth in western Wisconsin to under 1 in central Wisconsin. For this time period, rainfall totals were up to 1.5 below normal. The persistent abnormally dry conditions resulted in severe drought (D2) first being being realized in parts of west-central Wisconsin. Resultant top soil moisture neared 70% below normal. Volunteer and farmer reports portrayed widespread impacts to crops, with corn, soybeans, and grass pastures reported to be wilted, dying, or very stunted. A series of storms during the second half of the month produced heavy rainfall, providing total accumulations of 3 to 8 which were 1 to 4 above normal. Highest 24 hour rainfall reports occurred from the 22nd into the 26th as heavy rain storms frequented these areas. Highest 24 hour total rainfall reports included 2.25 in Mondovi (Buffalo County), 1.92 in Cochrane (Buffalo County), and 1.80 near Stetsonville (Taylor County). The above normal rainfall abated the severe drought (D2) across all of west-central Wisconsin by late September, though moderate drought (D1) persisted across much of the area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1139937. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.