This week’s Illinois Drought Monitor shows all areas of the state have exited from drought conditions.
Much of South Central Illinois has been in drought for months. That includes all of Marion, Washington, Jefferson, Fayette and Effingham Counties which are now listed as abnormally dry. The western portion of Clinton County and the southeast portion of Wayne County have returned to normal soil moisture conditions.
The improved soil moisture conditions following 6.06 inches of precipitation reported at the Salem Water Plant and 6.11 inches of precipitation at the Centralia Water Treatment Plant. The precipitation total is up about two inches compared to last January. The Centralia Water Plant notes the last time there was as much precipitation in January was 6.4 inches in 2020.
The Salem Water Plant reports the January precipitation includes 2.25 inches of snow, with an inch of snow on both January 13th and 19th. The highest rain total for the month was 1.1 inches on January 23rd.
The high temperature for the month of January in Salem was 53 degrees on January 25th. The low temperature was minus 5 on January 15th.
