According to today's Drought Monitor report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in the Midwest it was a wet week across most of Kentucky, with many locations from east of the Ohio/Mississippi Rivers’ confluence to the Appalachians receiving 1 to locally 4 inches.
Meanwhile, light to locally moderate precipitation fell on portions of Minnesota and the Great Lakes Region, much of it in the form of snow. Most areas recorded several tenths of an inch of precipitation (liquid-equivalent), but a few swaths from southeastern Minnesota through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan reported 1 to 2 inches.
A fairly deep snowpack now covers most areas across the northern tier of the Midwest Region. As a result, improvements were introduced there, particularly from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan through southern Minnesota.
Most areas from eastern Missouri northeastward through much of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan recorded 2 to 6 inches less than normal precipitation over the last 3 months, with the largest deficits observed near the Ohio River; however, most of the Midwest Region has seen near- to above-normal precipitation during the past 30 days, with totals about 2 inches above normal through much of the northern tier of the Region.
Currently, northwestern Iowa is the driest part of the Region. Much of this area is in extreme drought (D3) with a small area of D4 assessed near the Nebraska border.