Snow Buries Extreme Drought As Northern Missouri Enjoys Upgrade

Close to a foot of snow in parts of Schuyler County provided welcome relief from extreme drought conditions.  The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor shows the county upgraded to severe drought, while portions of Knox and Shelby counties west of Route 15 were upgraded from severe to moderate drought.  Central Missouri’s Osage County also exited extreme drought, leaving eastern Maries, southernmost Gasconade, northernmost Phelps, and northwestern Crawford counties in the third stage of drought condition.  Snowfall across Northern Missouri helped to end abnormally dry conditions this week in Carroll, Clinton, most of Caldwell, eastern Platte, and southeastern Buchanan counties.  The western tips of Platte and Buchanan counties exited moderate drought.

When that snowfall melts, its runoff will be sought by the Bootheel, which entered moderate drought this week.  That resulted in a net increase of 1.7 percent of Missouri experiencing some stage of drought, now at 73.2 percent.  0.4 percent of the state is in extreme drought while 29.4 percent is in severe drought.  Another 15.7 percent of Missouri remains in abnormal dryness.  Just over 11 percent of Missouri is out of drought or abnormally dry conditions.