Nearly half of the U.S. winter wheat crop is in poor or very poor condition, following a tough growing season. Some farmers are choosing to leave their crop in the field
The latest climate monitoring station in Illinois is in Coles County, and researchers with Prairie Research Institute have plans to expand the network even more.
The drought in Champaign County that began last fall finally ended in April.
Volunteers with FrogWatch USA track frog calls during mating season to collect data about ecosystem health.
The groundhog predicted 6 more weeks of winter. So does Illinois’ climatologist.
Officials said Lake Decatur’s water level continues to drop and drought conditions persist in the Lake Decatur watershed as much of central Illinois has received below average rainfall since mid-August 2025.
Farmers rely on the Mississippi River to ship grain and bring them imported fertilizer and other critical inputs. But another year of low river levels means barge travel will be more expensive.
The lack of rain has led to moderate drought for nearly all of McLean County. The far southeastern tip of the county is in severe drought, along with Champaign-Urbana and eastern Illinois.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is developing a framework for assessing drought in a changing climate. It’s a difficult task, as what’s considered drought is often situational.
Drought has scorched much of the Midwest and Great Plains for the last four years. Wildlife is also reckoning with the dry conditions – which can change animal behavior and even push species out of some regions.
Programs that provide drought relief to farmers use the U.S. Drought Monitor to determine eligibility, but some experts say it doesn’t always capture local conditions. On a recent fall day, as Wilburn Harris did the rounds on his cattle farm in the Missouri town of Drexel, he was met with brown grass, cracked
Fall is typically a drier time of the year for the Great Plains and Midwest. But drought is once again rearing its head in much of the region, and experts are not seeing relief anytime soon. As Ralph Lents harvests corn and soybeans on his farm in southwest Iowa, he said some precipitation would be
Planting is well underway across the Midwest, but farmers are still grappling with dry conditions that led to lower than normal corn yields last fall. It’s the third year of a near historic drought for parts of the Corn Belt.
Farmers can apply for emergency loans after tornadoes and drought last spring.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut off wheat exports, while drought conditions in the Great Plains will further reduce grain stocks. Reduced supplies could trickle down into higher prices for grocery list staples, such as bread and pasta. Global wheat supplies have been tightened from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and now the crop faces a domestic