Portions of Michigan's Grand River that have not been visible in decades have been revealed after drought conditions expanded in the state over the past three months.
Drought conditions in the Midwest have intensified after a dry summer. The latest update from the U.S. Drought Monitor revealed that over a third of the state of Michigan was in a drought.
On June 24, 7% of the state was considered to be in at least a moderate drought. This has risen to over 34% as of Thursday, a nearly fivefold increase over the period. Nearly five million Michigan residents live in areas experiencing drought conditions, up almost 20% compared to last week.
The state's drought is primarily in central and southern lower Michigan, home to Michigan's Grand River. The Grand River is the state's longest river, stretching around 252 miles, starting south of Jackson and flowing north and westward through Lansing and Grand Rapids before emptying into Lake Michigan at Grand Haven.
"The Grand River at Lansing was just shy of its lowest water flow on record on September 17," according to MLive.com meteorologist Mark Torregrossa. "The instantaneous water flow was 69.1 cubic feet per second. The lowest flow ever recorded by the USGS instrument at Lansing was 60 cubic feet per second back in 1999. The water flow records date back 99 years."
A warm summer and especially dry finish have contributed to Michigan's current state of drought. The state had its 20th warmest summer on record and 37th driest August, statistics that were reflected nationally as well. The contiguous U.S. had its 12th warmest summer on record and 23rd driest August.
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There are an estimated 125 million people living in drought-stricken portions of the country, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor Report. As a region, the West has the worst drought conditions in the U.S. Almost two-thirds of the West is enduring at least a moderate drought, and almost a third of the region is now in a severe drought.
Entire states, including Washington, Idaho, and Arizona, are in at least a moderate drought. More than 75% of those states are in at least a severe drought.
Our warming world is supercharging extreme weather events, including severe weather on both ends of the global water cycle spectrum.
"Based on measurements gathered around the world from 1950-2000, a team of researchers from Australia and the U.S. has concluded that the hydrologic cycle is indeed changing," according to nonprofit Climate Central. "Wet areas are getting wetter and dry areas are getting drier. But it's happening about twice as fast as anyone thought."
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