Southwest Indiana remains listed in exceptional drought - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Most of the southern two-thirds of Indiana is still classified as in at least severe drought even with increased rainfall this month.

The U.S. Drought Monitor's weekly report released Thursday says nearly 11 percent of is in the worst category with exceptional drought. That designation covers much of southwestern Indiana from roughly Terre Haute to the Bloomington area to near Evansville.

The federal report classifies 39 percent of Indiana as in extreme or exceptional drought, with all that area in the state's southern half. Three weeks ago, nearly 69 percent of the state was list in extreme or exceptional drought.

The recent rains have led to the lifting of open burning bans in all but 16 of Indiana's 92 counties.

This weekend, Indiana could get anywhere from a few inches up to six inches of rain due to Tropical Storm Isaac. Currently Indianapolis is over six inches below normal for precipitation for the year; it's possible that we could make that up this weekend. 

Indiana drought report

Meantime, some key farm states punished by the nation's worst drought in decades benefited slightly from recent rains, with a bigger dousing forecast from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac.

The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday shows that the section of the continental U.S. in the worst two categories of drought - extreme and exceptional - remained relatively unchanged at 23.2 percent as of the report's Tuesday cutoff.

But thanks to rains last weekend, the amount of Iowa in the two worst drought classifications fell by 9 percentage points to 58.3 percent. Illinois saw a 7 percentage point drop-off while Kansas' numbers slid 6 points.

Forecasters expect portions of the Midwest to get as much as 12 inches of rain within days due to Isaac, now a tropical storm.

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