17 Percent of Missouri Thankful To Not Be Experiencing Drought, Abnormal Dryness

Drought conditions in Missouri as of Nov. 21st, 2023. (The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Map courtesy of NDMC.)

More of Missouri is hoping that their turkey on the Thanksgiving dinner table won’t be as dry as the ground outside. The weekly US Drought Monitor puts close to 59 percent of the state in some stage of drought as of Tuesday morning. That’s a four-point jump following another week of next-to-no rainfall for much of the state. Moderate drought spread across Northern Missouri, sparing just Callaway, Grundy, Lincoln, Linn, Livingston, Montgomery, Pike, western Macon, and northern Warren counties. The first stage of drought also spread south of St Louis into western Iron and northern Reynolds counties. Conditions worsened to severe drought for Shelby, north central Audrain, eastern Knox and Scotland, northern and western Lewis, central and eastern Monroe, and southwestern Ralls counties. Elsewhere, severe drought also increased into more of northern Crawford County, along with western Washington County.

While extreme drought is unchanged at 0.9 percent of Missouri, severe drought now accounts for 21.6 percent of the state. Areas outside drought or abnormal dryness remain at 17.2 percent.