Insider Blog: Drought worsens across parts of Mid-Missouri this week

Drought conditions continue to worsen across Mid-Missouri after yet another week with very little rainfall. We only managed six days with measurable rain in September, and only a trace amount with the light showers that moved through on Wednesday.

In Columbia, there's a 2.65" rainfall deficit since the beginning of meteorological fall on September 1.

The lack of rain has allowed extreme drought to spread westward along the I-70 corridor this week, with severe drought also expanding across the Missouri River Valley into the Lake of the Ozarks region.

Only 6% of the state isn't experiencing drought conditions this week, and that's around the St. Louis area where extreme flash flooding events late this summer wiped out dry conditions.

The pattern next week looks a bit more active at the beginning with about 0.25" to 0.5" on the more generous end. However, the 8-14 day outlook is trending drier than normal through late October.

Through the end of the year, we should see some improvement across central Missouri, but drought persists across much of the country, from the Plains to the south, to along and west of the Rockies.