Despite scattered rain in recent days, four states in the water-rich Great Lakes region - Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania - are now experiencing a moderate drought, according to the latest weekly data released this morning by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
In northwest Ohio, where I live, Wood, Hancock, Seneca, Wyandot, Crawford, Huron, Lorain, Medina, Cuyahoga, Ashland, and Wayne counties had conditions worsen enough over the past week to go from being classified by the government as abnormally dry to moderate drought.
Michigan likewise has several counties at or near the Great Lakes shoreline that are in a moderate drought, including Monroe, Wayne, Huron, Tuscola, Bay, Midland, Saginaw, Oceana, Mason, and Manistee counties. In fact, there's a wide swath of land from Michigan's south-central to its Thumb region now under drought.
The most-parched Great Lakes state now, though, is New York, where 10 counties are now in a severe drought, most of which are near Lake Ontario.
Go here after 8:30 a.m. every Thursday morning for U.S. Drought Monitor updates.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is a product generated by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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