Growing Drought: USDA Indicates 14 States Have No Topsoil Moisture in Surplus Conditions

Drier weather helped aid major planting progress for U.S. farmers last week, but it didn’t help the topsoil moisture situation.

USDA’s latest Crop Progress report indicates 55% of the U.S. topsoil is considered ‘adequate,’ which is 10 points worse than this time last year. It also indicated soil moisture deteriorated from last week, when the U.S. had 59% of the topsoil in ‘adequate’ condition.

USDA shows 14 states have no topsoil moisture considered ‘surplus,’ which includes California Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota.

More than half of the topsoil in California, North Dakota and New Mexico is considered ‘very short,’ which is the driest category and echoes the latest U.S. Drought Monitor that showed dry conditions intensified in the Upper Midwest.

The Climate Prediction Center’s Monthly Drought Outlook shows expectations for drought to remain parked in the West, but it’s also expected to worsen across portions of northern Iowa and Wisconsin. While CPC expects drought relief to hit southern Michigan fields, forecasters expect drought to persist across northern Michigan.

In the latest report, CPC did show some slightly good news for drought conditions.

“Heavy precipitation during late April and into the beginning of May is likely to result in either drought removal or improvement across northeast Colorado along with central to eastern Texas,” the CPC in its monthly outlook. “Persistence is likely for western Texas and also throughout the long-term drought areas of the West. Recent dryness and elevated probabilities of below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures during May favor a return of drought to northwest Oklahoma and parts of the Texas Panhandle. Development is also favored to occur across southern Idaho and eastern Oregon by the end of May.”