Although the 2023 harvest turned out in many ways better than farmers had expected, the lack of rainfall this calendar year already has farmers quite concerned about soil moisture as we head towards the 2024 growing season.
As Tom Fricke from the Vermilion County Farm Bureau reminds us; outside of late June and most of July, the amount of rainfall was lacking all year ever since pretty much last April. And now, as we head into what many are predicting to be an El Nino drier than normal winter, the soil moisture numbers are getting farmers’ attention.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: We didn’t have that much rain in the fall. And going into this winter season, across the state, we are 47% short to very short of top soil moistures; and the subsoil moisture is 57% short to very short.
Lake Vermilion’s water level reached a low of 22 inches below normal in 2023.
From the consumer’s point of view, Jonathen Keim is Manager of Operations for the East Central region of the state for Aqua Illinois. Lake Vermilion, of course, provides the water directly to Danville and Tilton, as well as water that’s sold to Westville and Catlin. And Keim says that during late summer and into the fall, Lake Vermilion’s water level was at times 22 inches below normal. He says that now it’s back to just three inches below normal, but some taste and odor issues during the really low time, due to the lack of freshwater flow, certainly brought some phone calls.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: We had a lot of calls from people who live on the lake concerned about things. And even, I think, it was that low even up until the October time frame problem, probably. You know, with it being so dry; even the rain that we did get in September, October, and even November for a little bit of you; the ground just soaked it up, so we didn’t even see it at the lake.
Keim says some recent rains have gone north of Lake Vermilion; which is good, because much of the drainage into Lake Vermilion comes from northeast of it. Keim also says they will be monitoring things during the winter, but he reminds everyone that Lake Vermilion impounds about 3 billion gallons. He says the area it serves can go about a whole year without replenishment, although that’s not desirable. But he believes things will be right where they need to be after some significant rains in the spring.