Drought map of Missouri as of Aug. 26, 2025 (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.)

Mother Nature turned the spigots off the last part of August, resulting in almost 61 percent of Missouri falling into drought or abnormal dryness according to this week’s US Drought Monitor.

According to the monitor released Thursday morning, nearly all of Benton, Caldwell, Johnson, Moniteau, Morgan, and Ray counties have entered pre-drought conditions, along with most of Carroll, Cooper, Pettis, the western edge of Saline, and southwestern Livingston counties. The first stage of drought conditions has not materialized in our area; however, just over 14 percent of the state is in moderate drought, mostly along the Arkansas border and the Bootheel, as well as a patch covering most of Gasconade and Osage counties east of Jefferson City.