Extreme, Severe Drought Creeps Down Missouri River

Drought conditions in Missouri as of June 6th, 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.)

Spotty showers around the state resulted in drought condition downgrades along the Missouri River as well as the Bootheel. This week’s Drought Monitor showed the expansion of extreme drought into southern Callaway, southwestern Montgomery, northern Osage, and northwestern Gasconade counties. Severe drought expanded downriver into St Charles, Warren, northern Franklin, and northern St Louis counties, while moderate drought has spread south into Jefferson, St François, and western Ste Genevieve counties. Severe drought also made its way into Schuyler, eastern Putnam, and the remainder of Clark and Lewis counties, while elsewhere, southern Maries and Miller counties have entered moderate drought.

Abnormal dryness crept into more of Southeast Missouri, now impacting the Bootheel as well as Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Madison, Perry, Stoddard, and northern Reynolds counties. The only area of improvement in Missouri this week was the end of moderate drought conditions in Platte County alongside southwestern Clay County and downtown Kansas City. Northwestern Platte and southern Buchanan counties have exited abnormal dryness.

In total, 53.2 percent of Missouri is in some stage of drought, up 3.6 percent from last week. That includes 7.66 percent of Missouri in extreme drought and 19.5 percent in severe drought. Another 35.5 percent of Missouri sits in abnormal dryness, leaving just 13.24 percent of the state with normal conditions.