Drought in Illinois, October 1 to 31, 2022

Drought conditions gradually worsened through the last week of the month. The drought severity was greatest in the southernmost three counties from Cairo to Metropolis, where it became extreme. Further north, the drought became severe as far north as the Marion, Carbondale, and Benton areas. Elsewhere, the drought was classified as moderate, including the Interstate 64 corridor. Most crops were in the process of being harvested, so agricultural impacts were very limited. However, pastures were in poor or very poor condition. This forced farmers to begin feeding hay to cattle, which was likely to become in short supply in the winter months. Stock ponds ran low or completely dried up. The wildfire danger rose to critical levels on a few days where windy conditions coincided with very low humidity. Bans on outdoor burning were imposed in much of the region. Near Mt. Vernon, about 80 acres of a soybean field burned on October 14. A large field fire near Brookport, IL in Massac County occurred on October 24. This 78-acre fire destroyed a barn before being brought under control. Some locally beneficial rain arrived at the end of the month. Even so, most locations were still 3 to over 6 inches below normal on rainfall since September 1. One of the most significant impacts was very low water levels on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Parts of the Mississippi River reached all-time low levels, nearly forcing the river transportation industry to a halt. Dredging helped restore navigation channels to a depth sufficiently deep for river traffic to resume in a limited capacity. Tower Rock, normally inaccessible by foot traffic, became easily reachable on foot when the Mississippi River dropped to record or near record low levels. The city of Cairo was forced to change its water source from the Ohio River to groundwater. The Ohio River level dropped below the level of its water intake pipes.