More Heat Expected As Drought Expands, Crops Suffer

National Weather Service meteorologists forecast area highs would crack 100 again today. Monday National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climatologists announced over half the U.S. now suffers moderate to extreme drought, the most widespread since 1956. Most of McHenry County is now rated in "severe" drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

State Climatologist Jim Angel summed up the drought Friday.  "The normal rainfall per week in Illinois is about an inch. So we need that inch per week just to keep from slipping farther behind," he said.

Weather forecasters expected area temps to hit between 100 and 102 degrees today before a slow-moving cold front moved in tonight.  However, meteorologists warned the cooler air mass was moving so slowly the baked earth might heat it right back up again tomorrow so it wouldn't provide as much relief as normal.

The front includes the possibility of scattered rain but Angel reminded, "No amount of rain at this point will undo the damage done to crops already."  Downstate the drought and heat's been worse and some farmers have already given up and are chopping corn into silage. The USDA's July crops report still predicts corn stocks will finish the year in the black but December futures have jumped about $2 in the past month.

Ironically, in the midst of the drought, McHenry County's without a Water Resources Manager.  Cassandra McKinney who spent the last five years jawboning water conservation left the post last month to take over the Green Economy and Sustainable Water Center at the College of Lake County.

In the pic:  The effect of heat and drought is variable in southeastern McHenry County.  This field of corn near Huntley is obviously stressed.