•August 22, 2018•

Drier weather this month has caused declining soil moisture, especially in central Illinois, according to Jennie Atkins, Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring (WARM) Program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey, University of Illinois.
Illinois has received 1.28 inches of rain so far in August, 0.63 inches below the long-term average. Lower than normal rainfall occurred in most of the state, causing drier soils. Overall soil moisture levels have decreased 11 percent at depths of 2 inches.
The largest declines were in the central region where moisture levels were down in mid-August by 30 percent in the east and 35 percent in the west from the beginning of the month. The north, however, saw a 17 percent increase of soil moisture.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.