OTSEGO COUNTY — Otsego County was considered part of roughly 5 percent of the state in severe drought, according to the most recent updates in last week’s U.S. Drought Monitor.
Both the moderate and severe drought conditions are atypical for Northern Michigan in a region that may show “abnormally dry” conditions but rarely actual drought compared with the U.S. Drought Monitor’s maps of recent years.
The last time Otsego County experienced drought conditions was in 2010 and it was considered a moderate drought.
The last year Otsego County saw severe drought conditions was in 2007.
He said as of Monday, Gaylord was still about 2 inches below average in rainfall so far this month.
Lutz said Gaylord has basically been dry all summer.
“For the last three months, which is the meteorological summer, we are down a little over 3.5 inches since June,” he said.
“That’s really what we need to break us out of the drought.
Really, to get things to start improving, we need to get several good steady rains that could be an inch plus over the next several weeks.” Prior to the weekend rain, Gaylord was down 4 inches compared to normal average August precipitation.
VIDEO: Michigan’s late August drought conditions through the years at a glance Watch again VIDEO: Michigan’s late August drought conditions through the years at a glance Watch again