Michigan's drought is growing worse

Look at any of the scorched lawns in Michigan, and you can see the state is in the grip of a drought. And the grip is tightening.

Brian Fuchs is a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska. He says the beginning of Michigan’s drought can be traced all the way back to last fall.

Fuchs says it will take more than a heavy rain shower to end the drought.

“Even with normal precipitation….that’s not going to help with those areas showing deficits… and when you kick in the elevated temperatures that we’ve seen…that’s also going to be a hindrance…as far as how quickly any of these conditions can be recovered from,” said Fuchs.

The drought is most extreme along the Michigan-Indiana border, but drought conditions extend all the way into the Upper Peninsula.

Fuchs says parts of Michigan are seeing rainfall totals six to nine inches below normal.