GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Some heavy rain showers and thunderstorms moved through Michigan Friday morning, but will it be enough to ease severe drought conditions in the state?
On Thursday, the weekly update from the U.S. Drought Monitor was released and areas considered to be in a severe drought have expanded significantly and include nearly all of West Michigan now. It stretches from Van Buren, Kalamazoo, and Calhoun counties to the north, covering Ottawa and Kent counties, and to the east all the way into the Thumb region and some of northeast lower Michigan. Nearly all of the lower peninsula is now in a moderate drought.
If conditions don’t improve, the next level would be an extreme drought, which hasn’t happened in Michigan for decades. Parts of southeast Wisconsin and northeast Illinois were elevated to an extreme drought in Thursday’s update.
