Drought conditions still persist after high rainfall in June

During the month of June we received an incredible amount of rain throughout all of Michiana. Here in South Bend we almost accumulated 10 inches for the entire month. This is over 5.5 inches from or normal monthly value. These high values of rainfall accumulation were not isolated, most places saw well above their monthly average. The only problem with this much rain, which primarily fell during the last two weeks in June, is that it didn't get a chance to all sink into the soil.

When we deal with heavy bursts of rain after drought conditions, a lot of the water runs off into the streams and rivers, thus not allowing all of the much needed water to soak into the ground. So even after accumulation a few inches in a certain area, drought conditions can still persist afterwards. This is exactly what played out for our Michigan counties, where level drought is still present. In order to properly cure a drought, you want a steady rain that is off and on, over a few days time. 

Luckily for us, we are tracking higher chances of seeing above average rain for the middle of July. Typically for the month of July we see roughly 4 inches of rain accumulated. So far we have only accumulated 0.25 inches, which means we have some catching up to do.