Drought Information Statement
Issued by NWS Gaylord, MI
Issued by NWS Gaylord, MI
752 AXUS73 KAPX 031630 DGTAPX MIC001-007-011-019-039-051-055-069-079-089-101-113-119-129-135- 137-141-143-165-101200- Drought Information Statement National Weather Service Gaylord MI 1130 AM EST Fri Jan 3 2025 ...Drought Continues Across Parts of Northern Lower Michigan... .SYNOPSIS: Severe Drought conditions persist across northeast Lower Michigan and south of the M-72 corridor...despite recent precipitation over the past two weeks. .DROUGHT INTENSITY AND EXTENT: The following description of northern Michigan drought conditions is based on the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor published on January 1, 2025. Drought Category D2...Severe Drought: Crop or pasture losses likely...water shortages common. Areas included in drought category D2 include Presque Isle...Montmorency...Alpena... Kalkaska...Crawford...Oscoda...Alcona...Manistee...Wexford... Missaukee...Roscommon...Ogemaw...Iosco...Gladwin...and Arenac counties in northern Lower Michigan. Drought Category D1...Moderate Drought: Some damage to crops and pastures...streams or wells low...some water shortages developing or imminent. Areas included in drought category D1 include Leelanau...Otsego...Benzie...and Grand Traverse counties in northwest Lower Michigan. .HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS: Precipitation through the summer months (June-August) was generally from 75 to 125 percent of normal. Across eastern Upper Michigan June was the wettest month of the summer with precipitation 150 to 200+ percent of normal...things started to dry out in July with below normal rainfall though most areas received at least 50 percent of normal precipitation. A similar trend was noted in August. Precipitation during the fall months (September-November) started out below normal for September (less than 50 percent of normal with some areas less than 25 percent of normal) and October (25 to 75 percent of normal). But November precipitation was above normal in most locations...more than 200 percent of normal across northern Chippewa county and in the higher terrain of eastern Antrim/ western Otsego/northwest Kalkaska counties mainly due to a significant lake effect snow event during Thanksgiving weekend. For December: precipitation was above normal in most areas...with the heaviest precipitation (150-200+ percent of normal) concentrated over the typical northwest flow lake effect snow areas. Traverse City recorded its second snowiest December on record (48.2 inches)...Gaylord its fourth snowiest December (57.9 inches)...and Houghton Lake its 9th snowiest (23.4 inches). Temperatures for the summer came out pretty much near normal; for the fall months as a whole (September-November)...Sault Ste. Marie recorded its warmest fall on record (+5.4 degrees) as did Gaylord (+7.7 degrees). Second warmest falls on record occurred at Pellston (+4.6 degrees) and Traverse City (+4.9 degrees)...third warmest at Alpena (+4.3 degrees)...and ninth warmest at Houghton Lake (+3.3 degrees). December temperatures averaged from 1 to 3 degrees above normal...a thirteenth consecutive month of above normal temperatures dating back to December 2023. This occurred despite the abundant snowfall...with a couple of thaws (December 7th-10th/15th-17th/26th-30th) helping push temperatures above normal. All of this warmth throughout the year added up to the warmest calendar year on record at five of the main climatological stations...Houghton Lake ended up tying the record warmest year. Soil moisture is near normal across all of northern Michigan. Streamflows on northern Michigan rivers are mostly near normal... with fluctuations due to ice activity. .SUMMARY OF IMPACTS: No known impacts at this time. .LOCAL DROUGHT OUTLOOK: A period of colder weather is on tap into early next week...which will set the stage for more lake effect snow showers. However significant widespread precipitation is not expected. The 6 to 10 day outlook issued by the Climate Prediction Center valid for the period of January 8-12 is calling for high probabilities of below normal temperatures...and generally near normal precipitation. The seasonal drought outlook which is valid from January through March 2025 is predicting an improvement in drought conditions heading during the winter and into early spring though it is likely that areas currently in the D2 drought category will remain in drought status through March. .NEXT ISSUANCE DATE: This product will be updated Thursday January 16, 2025. .RELATED WEB SITES: Additional information on current drought conditions may be found at the following web addresses: US Drought Monitor: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu US Drought Information System: https://www.drought.gov NOAA Drought Page: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/Drought Additional water and river information: NWS Office of Water Prediction (OWP): https://water.noaa.gov US Geological Survey (USGS): https://water.usgs.gov US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE): https://www.usace.army.mil .ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The Drought Monitor is a multi-agency effort involving the National Weather Service and National Centers for Environmental Information, the USDA, state and regional center climatologists and the National Drought Mitigation Center. Information for this statement has been gathered from NWS and FAA observation sites, state cooperative extension services, the USDA, USACE and USGS. .CONTACT INFORMATION: If you have questions or comments about this Drought Information Statement, please contact: National Weather Service 8800 Passenheim Road Gaylord, MI 49735 Phone...989-731-3384 w-apx.webmaster@noaa.gov $$ JPB