Despite the October rain level approaching the traditional average, the state’s ongoing drought may have detrimental effects on the state.

State Climatologist John Young, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Wisconsin, said in statement that in the last 45 years, he has not seen a drought as bad as the one this year.

According to Young, south-central Wisconsin typically gets 35 inches of rainfall per year, but the state only received 23 inches from October 2011 through October 2012. 

Young said heat worsens the effects of drought by increasing the speed of evaporation, ultimately inhibiting the growth of plants.

“If you are talking about a drought that influences living things, plants, animals and the availability of water, it’s hot temperatures as well as low precipitation that will hurt,” Young said in the statement. “In south-central Wisconsin, it was dry for six months in a row. June just killed us, as there was hardly had a drop. That was more than four inches below normal.”

Temperatures in March were 15 degrees above normal, a temp comparable to that of June, Young said.

According to Young, the likelihood of “abnormal days” featuring heat waves, extreme rainfall or little rainfall will increase.

“This is the kind of weather we expect as the climate warms, and both precipitation extremes have affected us the past few summers,” Young said in the statement. “You do not lift a drought by one day of heavy showers; the drought wasn’t formed in a day, and it won’t end in a day.”

Richard Keller, UW medical history and bioethics professor, said the general pattern shows the last two years have been significantly hotter than the years before it. 

Keller noted while it is virtually impossible for a single event to significantly change a climate, the more recent recurrence of heat waves and droughts such as the one this summer are better indications.

“You can’t look at any single weather system or phenomena and say it signifies climate change,” Keller said. “There needs to be a broader pattern. But the increased frequency, intensity and duration of these heat waves suggest we are undergoing climate change.”

Ankur Desai, UW atmospheric and oceanic sciences professor, said in an email to The Badger Herald the state has experienced drought before. He noted although the drought this year was “exceptional for both its length and breadth,” the state has also become more resilient to dry conditions compared to previous dry spells. 

Desai added in the email some agricultural producers fared poorly this summer and this might affect food prices into the spring. 

The drought’s impact on Wisconsin’s ecosystem is not immediately known, though Desai noted professors from Princeton University and other colleges are conducting an open-source drought ecology project to look into drought effects across the nation. 

Desai stressed in his email that droughts are weather events, and therefore, they cannot be directly linked to climate change. However, the recent changes in frequency and the severity of drought, especially in western North America, are consistent with climate projections, Desai said.