Drought — Taylor, Wisconsin

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

Event narrative

Ongoing drier than normal conditions persisted through the middle of September and resulted in at least severe drought (D2) across most of Taylor County. Through the first half of September, top soil moisture was 70% below normal. Rainfall totals during this time neared 1 inch below normal and resulted in severe drought (D2) expansion as well as extreme drought (D3) introduction in parts. Reported impacts included severely decreased crop yields, as well as a difficult harvest for cranberry farmers due to well below normal water levels. A series of storms during the latter half of the month provided approximately 3 inches of rainfall across Taylor County, up to an inch above normal for the time period. This resulted in only a portion of northern Taylor County remaining in severe drought (D2) by the end of September, with moderate drought (D1) persisting elsewhere. The United States Department of Agriculture declared Taylor County as a primary natural disaster area on September 13th.

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 1139938. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.