Last week’s heavy rains helped to lift most of Missouri up a level in the most recent map from the National Drought Mitigation Center.

The map, assessing conditions as of Tuesday morning, shows just western Lafayette, most of Johnson, and central and southern Pettis counties in the moderate or first stage of drought conditions. Carroll, Cooper and Saline counties are now upgraded to abnormally dry, as is southern Howard and the western and northern edges of Chariton counties. Central and eastern Chariton, northern Howard, and southern Randolph counties are no longer in drought or abnormal dryness.

The worst drought conditions remain in Southwest Missouri and the Lake of the Ozarks area, as well as southeastern Cass and most of Henry counties, which are all now in severe drought instead of extreme. 17.85% of Missouri is in this stage, while another 17.27% of the state is in moderate drought. 34.68% sit in abnormal dryness.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Map courtesy of NDMC.