Drought Raised to “Moderate” Levels

• Drought levels increasing across the state
• Clouds and showers for the weekend
• Cooler air moves in Sunday

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - We had another gorgeous day out there for southern Wisconsin all due to a ridge of high pressure keeping us dry with winds out of the north. This evening we’ll stay mostly clear with temperatures close to 50. And as we end the workweek, we’ll be looking at another sunny and dry day on Friday with highs year 80.

We ended the month of May with just over 3″ deficit of precipitation, and so far this month, we are still lagging about 1/2″ behind our average. With all this sunny and dry weather we’ve had since the middle of May, the U.S. Drought Monitor has been increasing our drought intensity.

Last week just over 66% of the state was at “abnormally dry”, the lowest tier of concern. This week, the intensity has increased to 88% of the state under abnormally dry with now our southern counties under moderate drought.

What’s Coming Up...

We do have a chance of showers coming up this weekend. A cold front will be moving in and with it we could see some showers forming Saturday afternoon, likely off and on through Sunday morning, with accumulations less than an inch. Our temperatures will also be going down with the front, with highs on Sunday only reaching into the mid to upper 60s.

Looking Ahead...

Monday could also give us another shot of precipitation, but that looks like all we’ll see until the following weekend. Next week temperatures will be back on the rise and into the lower 80s by Wednesday.

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