First Signs Of Severe Drought Identified For Missouri In New Drought Map

The U.S. Drought Monitor Map for Missouri showed a noticeable decline in drought conditions and included the first reports of moderate drought conditions for small parts of our listening area and a small area in eastern Missouri.

Overall, Missouri still has 84 percent of territory without any drought or pre-drought conditions. That figure is down by about 6 percent from last week. Some moderate drought conditions are now identified in northwest Harrison County, all of Worth County, the northern tip of Gentry County, and the northeastern corner of Nodaway County. There are pre-drought conditions identified in the northern three-quarters of the listening area.

In Iowa, all of the counties in our listening area were downgraded to moderate drought. While none of those counties are in severe drought, as a state, Iowa was downgraded from 9 percent severe drought territory last week to 40 percent severe drought this week. Most of Iowa’s severe drought territory is now in central and northern Iowa.