MILWAUKEE - Practically the entire state of Wisconsin is under some level of drought conditions as of Aug. 5. Southeast Wisconsin has most counties in abnormally dry conditions with some under a moderate drought.
Exactly one year ago, on A 5, 2025, Wisconsin hardly had a drought at all! Only portions of Kenosha, Oneida, and Vilas counties had abnormally dry conditions. What a difference one year can make.
The drought monitor is updated once a week, but a few rounds of heavy rain will not just wash the drought away.
Comparing this year to last year
By the numbers:
On Aug. 4, 2026, in Wisconsin,13% of the state had severe drought, 21% had moderate drought, 58% were abnormally dry, and 8% of the state had no drought.
On Aug. 5, 2025, in Wisconsin, 98% of Wisconsin had no drought while only 2% had abnormally dry conditions. A lack of consistent rain in 2026 has led to drought concerns across the state.
Dry trend this year
What we know:
Spring started off wet but quickly dried out as May was the driest month ever recorded for Milwaukee with a total of 0.36" and over a 3.00" deficit. That is very challenging to recover from. Dry spells continued for the second half of June into almost all of July.
Rain events picked up the last few days of July into August, but the overall trend of long dry stretches caused complications for the soil.
Rain but still dry?
Local perspective:
Milwaukee and surrounding areas have experienced rain, but that poses the question—why are we still in a drought? It doesn't just take one heavy rain event to fix the problem. With prolonged dry periods, the soil has become extremely dry, not only at the surface but deep down.
When heavy rain hits the dry ground, the solid can't absorb it, so runoff occurs rather than soaking into the ground. This is what creates flash flooding, especially in dry arid regions. In addition, rain is often absorbed into the thin top layer of the soil rather than soaking down into the ground. By the time the sun comes back out, the moisture easily evaporates into the air rather than staying in the ground.
So the fix that Wisconsin needs is many events with soaking rain to help alleviate the long-term drought conditions that have set in this summer.
Heading into August, there weather pattern has been more active in the rain and storms department, and as much of an inconvenience it may be, it will help the solid and crops.
The Source: Information provided by the FOX6 Weather Experts, U.S. Geological Survey, National Drought Mitigation Center