Storm Team 4
Milwaukee, Southern Wis. officially declared to be in 'extreme drought'
MILWAUKEE - Many areas of Southeastern Wisconsin experienced rain levels of an inch or more in the last 24 hours, but after a summer with little rain, it's nowhere near enough to change the drought conditions our area has endured.
The U.S. Drought Monitor officially declared the Milwaukee area in an extreme drought on Thursday morning.
Officials say that means "major crop and pasture losses, widespread water shortages or restrictions."
"If you had a record of 100 years, most of the indicators right now are falling into the driest three to five events that have ever taken place," said climatologist Brian Fuchs with the National Drought Mitigation Center.
"We've had such a prolonged period of time without any precipitation that the soil is very dry. It's going to take a lot more of what we had last night to alleviate the problem," said Storm Team 4Caster Scott Steele.
Scott also tells us that we shouldn't expect rain to relieve us from the drought for the next week.
"Even though we did get that steady rain, and it was a decent amount, the seven-day outlook shows no additional precipitation," warned Scott.
"We show a dry spell with more hot weather."
Governor Scott Walker has set plans to tour locations that have gone through the hardest of drought conditions.
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