New U.S. Drought Monitor Shows Significant Moisture Improvement

The new U.S. Drought Monitor showed a noticeable upgrade within the region and throughout Missouri when compared to the previous week.

Most of the region reduced their drought levels by one full level. The southern two-thirds of Harrison County, Mercer County, the western half of Grundy County, Putnam County, Sullivan County, and Caldwell County were all upgraded from Severe Drought to Moderate Drought. Gentry, Worth, western Daviess, most of DeKalb, and northern Nodaway County were generally taken from Moderate Drought to pre-drought conditions. Southern Nodaway County and areas further west were completely taken out of soil moisture deficiency. An area in eastern Grundy County was upgraded from Exceptional Drought to Severe Drought.

The amount of rain is not the only data that goes into each week’s Drought Monitor. The index also includes subsoil moisture, pond and river levels, grass growth, and fire danger. Any particular area rarely improves by more than one level with total rainfall over a week, regardless of the amount of rain.

Overall in Missouri, rains improved most regions. Missouri’s Exceptional Drought territory went down from from 19 percent to 9 percent. Extreme Drought territory decreased from 30 percent to 24 percent. Serious Drought territory stayed steady, but most of that was due to Extreme Drought territory being upgraded to Severe Drought. Moderate Drought stayed steady due to an upgrade of Severe Drought territory to Moderate Drought. Pre-drought territory increased by 12 points due to upgrades of lower rated territory. 9 percent of Missouri had no moisture deficit. That figure was 6 percent last week.

Iowa did not receive the rains that Missouri did last week, so their drought map stayed steady. Some area counties were improved. Decatur County was upgraded from Severe Drought to Moderate Drought. Ringgold County was upgraded from Moderate Drought to pre-drought conditions. Taylor County remained in pre-drought conditions. Western Wayne County upgraded from Severe to Moderate Drought, but northeastern Wayne County remains in Extreme Drought.