Drought returning as Francine tries to bring relief

The newest drought monitor is out and shows increasingly drier-than-normal conditions across the state. Rain has been hard to come by in the last month and even a tropical system tracking into the region won't be enough to wash out the drought.

You might recall drought receding briefly as we entered the fall; this was unfortunately short-lived as we are behind on rainfall again. The rain deficit is over 2" in some spots in the last 30 days, equating to around 25% of our normal rain. Drought has flared back up fast, covering 25% more of the state than it did a month ago.

The remnants of Hurricane Francine are expected to linger over the weekend providing some relief to the bootheel. Central Missouri is further from this system and will likely continue to deal with increasing drought.