Your Weather, 2026

[ducks4you]

I live around the middle of the "red zone."
"As of February 10, 2026 approximately 70% (40292 square miles) of Illinois is under drought conditions and 21% (12153 square miles) is Abnormally dry."
I hope to treat water this year as if I live in AZ!, including using all of the water that my garage dehumidifier sucks up for gardening, instead of pouring it outside of the garage, like usual.

| U.S. Drought Monitor

droughtmonitor.unl.edu

 

[Dahlia]

We just finished with a bitter Northerly. It's been so cold and breezy I haven't wanted to spend much time outside. Today will be much warmer again - up to 50! Probably lots of rain though. That's ok. I'm going to stay home and cook a roast.

 

[digitS']

It's as though we are on our way to having had the driest Summer followed by the warmest Winter.

I hope to treat water this year as if I live in AZ!

That's it, @ducks4you. I feel like I am now living somewhere in southern Arizona. Of course, it isn't that hot and dry here.

Looking at the WS information on averages: it shows that Springfield had its driest year in 1940 with just over 20 inches. Drought is measured as a current comparison with historical averages. Twenty inches would be our yearly average but most of that would be in the form of snow. That works out because of the nearby mountains. Snow melt continues for months into the growing season.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

In the PNW in one day we had so much snow that the roads were closed to the ski resorts until the sand trucks could clear the roads. Many mountain ranges received well over 12-20” or more of snow in a 24 hour period. We had fallen way behind the snow averages so far this season and hoping to catch up with the average snow melt needed to be sufficient enough to fill the rivers and water sheds to avoid drought conditions.