Lake Decatur 4 feet below normal, city optimistic drought could ease by spring

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – Lake Decatur is currently four feet below normal levels, but there is hope the dry weather will end in the next two to three months.

Decatur has been in drought conditions since August. Even snowfall in November and December wasn’t enough to make a difference.

"We think we will come out of this drought in two or three months if normal precipitation patterns hold,” Robert Weil of the city water department told WAND News. “We talked to the state climatologist, and he indicated that there’s nothing to expect that we won’t get normal precipitation."

This drought is a bit different from previous droughts since the 1980s. Those droughts were in the summer months, with this one starting in late summer and has lasted through the fall and now into mid-January.

The city is not currently considering additional water restrictions.

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