Drought Arrives In St Louis, Northwest Missouri

Drought conditions in Missouri as of June 15th, 2021. (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.)

Moderate drought conditions have returned to Missouri amid the past week’s heat wave, but the extent of its presence was limited to five counties. USDA’s Drought Monitor as of last Tuesday indicated that Worth County, along with the northern half of Harrison and northeastern corners of Gentry and Nodaway counties have entered into the first stage of drought conditions. A second patch of drought has appeared in a majority of St Louis County.

Abnormal dryness also expanded in the past week, with areas impacted north of a line from Kahoka to Bevier, northwest to Purdin, then west to just north of St Joseph. Interestingly, Putnam County is an oasis not impacted by the abnormally dry conditions. Areas of abnormal dryness have expanded into more of the St Louis Metro, while a dry patch around Perry, St François and Ste Genevieve counties disappeared from the map. All told, 15.7 percent of Missouri is in some stage of drought or abnormal dryness.