Drought conditions looming over Mid-Missouri

Although the grass has been looking green across much of Mid-Missouri, the drought monitor has been yellow. April has seen a few spells of severe weather for Central Missouri with areas of Northern Boone County even seeing hail over 2" in diameter. In terms of rainfall however, things have been very quiet as rainfall totals have only measured up to 0.57" so far according to the Columbia regional Airports automated measurement system.

The most rainfall seen in a total day this month measured just under a quarter of an inch on the 15th. Typically, by the end of the month rainfall totals reach just under 5". With just five days left in the month, Mid-Missouri is looking to clock in well underneath norms.

This lack of usual rainfall has lead to increasing areas being marked as abnormally dry, with some portions of Western Callaway seeing moderate drought conditions.

Typically, when rainfall totals for short over a substantial period of time, areas start to suffer. The first level of drought conditions is known as "Abnormally Dry." This means the are is more prone to an increase in wildfires with decreased local river levels. The next step up from this in drought level severity is Moderate drought. Pastures can stop growing, crops become stressed and the fire threat increases.

Thankfully more rain is expected heading into the weekend. Although multiple days may see rainfall, relief is not in the foreseeable future. Rainfall totals only look to amount up to 0.5" across the region. This paired with the drier than average forecast into the 6-10 day outlook means rainfall totals will end up close to 3" short of average totals for the month of April.