Southern Illinois drought not expected to let up anytime soon.
While the headlines in Illinois have been focused on the flooding in Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois is experiencing drought-like conditions.
Less than one inch of water has fallen in the southern part of state in the last 30 days.
This stands in stark contrast to places like Lake County that have seen more than a foot of rain dumped on them.
State climatologist Jim Angel says this chronic lack of rainfall has depleted the area’s ground stores of water.
"Those areas are getting hit really hard in terms of soil moisture," he said.
"We need an inch to an inch-and-a-half per week to keep the corn crop growing."
The biggest casualty in all of this is farmers in dire need of ground water to keep their corn from being damaged.
"We’ve got some counties near St. Louis reporting damage to corn already," Angel said.
The dry spell doesn’t look to let up soon.