Widespread Drought Continues Across Southwest Lower Michigan

Here is the official report from Weather.Gov on the status of the ongoing drought in Grand Rapids:

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
1117 AM EDT THU AUG 2 2012

...WIDESPREAD DROUGHT CONTINUES ACROSS SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN...

SYNOPSIS...
RECENT RAINFALL HAS NOT BEEN ENOUGH TO MITIGATE THE ONGOING DROUGHT.
THE OUTLOOK FOR THE REMAINDER OF AUGUST INDICATES ABOVE NORMAL
TEMPERATURES AND AN EQUAL CHANCE OF BELOW OR ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL.

THE DROUGHT INTENSITY ACROSS THE REGION VARIES...AS DEFINED BY THE
UNITED STATES DROUGHT MONITOR INDEX:

ACROSS SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN...D1 TO D2 OR MODERATE TO SEVERE
DROUGHT CONDITIONS EXIST. NEAR THE INDIANA BORDER...D3 OR EXTREME
DROUGHT CONDITIONS EXIST.

POSSIBLE IMPACTS FROM A MODERATE DROUGHT /D1/ ARE SOME
DAMAGE TO CROPS...PASTURES... STREAMS...RESERVOIRS...OR WELLS
LOW...SOME WATER SHORTAGES DEVELOPING OR IMMINENT...VOLUNTARY
WATER-USE RESTRICTIONS REQUESTED.

POSSIBLE IMPACTS FROM A SEVERE DROUGHT /D2/ ARE CROP OR
PASTURE LOSSES LIKELY... WATER SHORTAGES COMMON...AND WATER
RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED.

SUMMARY OF IMPACTS...
MANY CREEKS AND STREAMS ARE RUNNING MUCH BELOW NORMAL FLOW.
LARGE STEM RIVER FLOWS ARE IN THE SINGLE PERCENTILE OF NORMAL
FLOW...WITH SOME NEARING RECORD LOW FLOWS.

THE SHALLOW WATER LEVELS HAVE LED TO WARMER THAN NORMAL STREAMWATER
TEMPERATURES...AND THIS IS CAUSING INCREASED CONCERN FOR
UNFAVORABLE AQUATIC HABITAT FOR MUSSELS...FISH AND OTHER MACRO
INVERTEBRATES.

AGRICULTURAL IMPACTS ARE CONTINUALLY BEING ASSESSED...HOWEVER
ECONOMIC LOSSES ARE ALREADY BEING REPORTED FOR THIS GROWING SEASON.

SOIL MOISTURE CONDITIONS...
SOIL MOISTURE SUPPLIES ARE BELOW NORMAL ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA.

GROUNDWATER CONDITIONS...
AT THE END OF JULY...THE MID MICHIGAN HEALTH  DEPARTMENT REPORTED
THAT 40 RESIDENTIAL WELLS HAVE GONE DRY IN GRATIOT COUNTY.

RIVER AND STREAMFLOW CONDITIONS...
ALL RIVERS ACROSS SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN ARE EXPERIENCING BELOW
NORMAL FLOWS. THERE HAS BEEN A GRADUAL BUT STEADY FALL IN RIVER AND
STREAM LEVELS OVER THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS AND THIS TREND IS
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH SEPTEMBER WHEN AVERAGE FLOW MINIMUMS
OCCUR.

AGRICULTURE IMPACTS...
AGRICULTURAL LOSS ESTIMATES WILL CONTINUE TO MOUNT.  CROP YIELD
ESTIMATES WILL LIKELY DIMINISH AND LIVESTOCK STRESS AND LOSSES WILL
INCREASE.

FIRE DANGER HAZARDS...
FIRE DANGER CAN BE DETERMINED THROUGH BOTH THE 10 HOUR AND 100 HOUR
FUEL MOISTURES...OR THE KEETCH BYRAM DROUGHT INDEX /KBDI/.
THE KBDI IS A DROUGHT INDEX THAT IS SPECIFICALLY RELATED TO
FIRE POTENTIAL.

BELOW ARE THE CATEGORIES AND A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EACH.

         ...KEETCH-BYRAM DROUGHT INDEX /KBDI/...
KBDI VALUE              DESCRIPTION OF FIRE POTENTIAL
  0 TO 200      LOW - WET WITH LITTLE DANGER OF FIRE INITIATION
201 TO 400      MODERATE - DRYING OCCURRING WITH SOME FIRE
401 TO 600      HIGH - GROUND COVER DRY AND WILL BURN READILY
601 TO 800      EXTREME - DEAD AND LIVE FUELS WILL BURN READILY

KBDI AND DEAD FUEL MOISTURE DATA CAN BE FOUND AT THE WILDLAND
FIRE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM /WFAS/AT
HTTP://WWW.FS.FED.US/LAND/WFAS/WFAS10.HTML

CLIMATE SUMMARY...
RAINFALL AMOUNTS VARY OVER THE REGION AND FOR THE MOST PART HAVE BEEN
SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW NORMAL FOR THE PAST MONTH AND BELOW NORMAL SINCE
JUNE.

ANNUAL RAINFALL THROUGH AUGUST 2ND AT 10 AM
LOCATION         RAINFALL SINCE 1/1/12    DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL
GRAND RAPIDS     18.88 INCHES             -2.48 INCHES
LANSING          14.86 INCHES             -3.20 INCHES
MUSKEGON         18.66 INCHES             +1.27 INCHES
KALAMAZOO        15.07 INCHES             -4.83 INCHES
BATTLE CREEK     11.45 INCHES             -6.84 INCHES
HOLLAND          16.71 INCHES             -3.13 INCHES
JACKSON          14.65 INCHES             -3.03 INCHES

SUMMER RAINFALL THROUGH AUGUST 2ND AT 10 AM
LOCATION         RAINFALL SINCE 1/1/12    DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL
GRAND RAPIDS     4.73 INCHES             -3.05 INCHES
LANSING          3.64 INCHES             -2.85 INCHES
MUSKEGON         5.78 INCHES             +0.66 INCHES
KALAMAZOO        3.38 INCHES             -4.08 INCHES
BATTLE CREEK     2.11 INCHES             -4.70 INCHES
HOLLAND          3.63 INCHES             -3.62 INCHES
JACKSON          4.36 INCHES             -2.72 INCHES

PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOKS...
THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL SATURDAY NIGHT.
THE LATEST 6 TO 10 DAY OUTLOOK FROM THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER
INDICATES THE CHANCE FOR ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION...HOWEVER
CONDITIONS DO NOT LOOK FAVORABLE FOR LARGE SCALE DROUGHT BREAKING
RAINFALL FROM AUGUST 2ND THROUGH AUGUST 9TH.

HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...
ALL RIVERS ACROSS SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN ARE EXPERIENCING
BELOW NORMAL FLOWS. THERE HAS BEEN A GRADUAL BUT STEADY FALL IN RIVER
AND STREAM LEVELS OVER THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS AND THIS TREND IS
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH SEPTEMBER WHEN AVERAGE FLOW MINIMUMS
OCCUR.  WITH THE LACK OF SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL EXPECTED...RIVERS AND
STREAMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THEIR SLOW FALL THROUGH AUGUST.
LAKE LEVELS ACROSS THE REGION ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO FALL AS
WELL. THIS MAY CREATE PROBLEMS FOR BOATERS AND SWIMMERS. CAUTION
SHOULD BE EXERCISED AS MORE HAZARDOUS OBJECTS THAT HAD BEEN COVERED
BY WATER MAY NOW BE EXPOSED OR NEARLY EXPOSED.

NEXT ISSUANCE DATE...

THIS PRODUCT WILL BE UPDATED ON AUGUST 9TH 2012 OR WHEN
DROUGHT CONDITIONS CHANGE.

&&

RELATED WEB SITES...

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON CURRENT DROUGHT CONDITIONS MAY BE FOUND AT
THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESSES /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/:

U.S. DROUGHT PORTAL...HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.GOV
U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR...HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.UNL.EDU/DM/MONITOR.HTML
U.S. DROUGHT ASSESSMENT...
HTTP://WWW.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/PRODUCTS/EXPERT_ASSESSMENT/DROUGHT_ASSESSMENT.SHTML
U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR FOR MICHIGAN...
HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.UNL.EDU/DM/DM_STATE.HTM?MI,MW
NWS RIVER INFORMATION...HTTP://WATER.WEATHER.GOV/AHPS/
RIVER FORECAST CENTERS...HTTP://WATER.WEATHER.GOV/AHPS/RFC/RFC.PHP
U.S. WATER MONITOR...HTTP://WATERMONITOR.GOV/
NATIONAL PRECIPITATION GRAPHIC SUITE...
HTTP://WATER.WEATHER.GOV/PRECIP/
STATE USDA CROP PROGRESS REPORTS...HTTP://WWW.NASS.USDA.GOV/MI
CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER...HTTP://WWW.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/
MIDWESTERN CLIMATE CENTER...
HTTP://MCC.SWS.UIUC.EDU/CLIWATCH/WATCH.HTM
USGS GROUNDWATER INFORMATION...HTTP://WATER.USGS.GOV/OGW/
USGS WATERWATCH...HTTP://WATERWATCH.USGS.GOV/NEW/

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...

THE DROUGHT MONITOR IS A MULTI-AGENCY EFFORT INVOLVING NOAA/S
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AND NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER
/NCDC/...THE USDA...STATE AND REGIONAL CLIMATE CENTERS AND
THE NATIONAL DROUGHT MITIGATION CENTER.

INFORMATION FOR THIS STATEMENT HAS BEEN GATHERED FROM NWS AND
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION /FAA/ OBSERVATION SITES...
STATE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICES...UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE /USDA/ AND UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/USGS/.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS...

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT
INFORMATION STATEMENT PLEASE CONTACT...
WILLIAM MARINO
WILLIAM.MARINO@NOAA.GOV
616-949-0643
CLIMATE/DROUGHT FOCAL POINT
NWS - GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN

$$

WALTON

(Full Report Available at http://water.weather.gov/ahps/water/textprods/view.php?wfo=grr&prod=DGT )