Drought — Douglas, Wisconsin

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

Event narrative

The month began with D3 Extreme Drought across the northern half of the county with D2 Severe Drought across the southern half. Additionally, there was an area of D4 Exceptional Drought across the northeastern corner of the county. Lingering dry conditions from the end of August led to the expansion of D3 Extreme Drought across the southern half of the county with the update on the 5th. Multiple rainfall events followed for the second half of the month leading to improving conditions. The area of D4 Exceptional Drought was removed with the update on the 12th along with a reduction in the area of D3 Extreme Drought from the Superior area southeastward. Additional improvement was seen with the update on the 26th as all D3 Extreme Drought was removed leaving D2 Severe Drought for the southwestern quarter of the county and D1 Moderate Drought or D0 Abnormally Dry across the remainder of the county. Rainfall for the month was around 1 to 4 inches above normal with even higher amounts adjacent to Lake Superior.

Wider weather episode

Widespread drought conditions persisted across northwest Wisconsin to start the month. Conditions worsened a bit during the first half of the month with the expansion of D3 Extreme Drought and the maintenance of D4 Exceptional Drought along the Bayfield Peninsula. Much needed rainfall was received over the latter half of September pushing totals for the month to around 1 to 3 inches above normal for most areas. This led to the removal of almost all of the areas of D3 Extreme Drought across the region with reductions in the areas of D2 Severe Drought as well.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1141281. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.