Drought — Outagamie, Wisconsin

2023-10-17 to 2023-10-23 · Outagamie, Wisconsin

Event narrative

At the beginning of the month, all but the far northeast portion of the county was classified in Moderate Drought (D1). Rainfall over the first half of the month was only around an inch, which resulted in all but the far north and far west portions of the county being upgraded into the Severe Drought (D2) category on the 17th. The Severe Drought (D2) conditions were short-lived as thunderstorms brought 1 to 3 inches of rain on the 23rd into the 24th. On the 24th, Severe Drought (D2) no longer existed across the county. Additional precipitation at the end of the month resulted in additional improvement of the drought into the Abnormally Dry (D0) category on the 31st. For the month, Appleton recorded the 8th wettest October on record with 4.77 inches (168% of normal).

Wider weather episode

Drought conditions that developed during the summer continued into the fall. Rainfall totals over the first half of October were around an inch or less, which resulted in drought conditions worsening into the Severe Drought (D2) category on the 17th across much Brown and Outagamie counties and the northern half of Kewaunee County. The duration of the Severe Drought (D2) was short-lived as thunderstorms brought rainfall amounts over an inch on the 23rd into the 24th, which resulted in the area no longer being being designated in the Severe Drought (D2) on the 24th. By the end of the month, enough rain had fallen that the drought conditions improved into the Abnormally Dry (D0) category.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1143901. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.