More Rain Means Move Improvement In Missouri Drought Map

A second straight weekend which brought substantial rain brought another noticeable upgrade in the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Harrison was upgraded by another level and it not considered to be in pre-drought conditions. Gentry County remained in pre-drought conditions. Worth, Nodaway and Western Andrew counties are completely out of any dryness category. Western Daviess County Mercer, Grundy, DeKalb, and most of Putnam and Sullivan Counties are placed in Moderate Drought. For eastern Grundy County, that is an upgrade from Severe Drought.

As a whole, Missouri also showed drought improvement. 28 percent of the state is now considered out of any dryness category. That is up 19 points from the previous week. The other dryness and drought categories remained steady, but much of that came from areas being upgraded to a lesser moisture deficit category. Extreme Drought area in Missouri reduced by 3 points to 5 percent. Severe Drought area was down 9 points to 15 percent. Moderate drought area increased by 2 points, but that was the result of areas being upgraded to a lesser moisture deficit category. Pre-drought area was down by about 9 points. Most of the state’s Extreme Drought territory is in west-central Missouri. Much of the southern quarter of the state is now out of any dryness category.

Iowa’s Drought Map didn’t show as much improvement as Missouri, but did show the 1 percent of the state out of moisture deficit. That is a first in several weeks. One of the areas without a moisture deficit is along the Worth-Ringgold County line. Ringgold and Taylor counties are in pre-drought conditions. Decatur County is in Moderate Drought. Eastern Wayne County still area territory in Severe and Extreme Drought categories.