Drought map of Missouri as of Oct. 28, 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.)

The 0.42″ of rain that fell in Marshall on Sunday wasn’t enough to keep western Saline County from sliding into moderate drought this week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The weekly update from the National Drought Mitigation Center found that 45.89 of the county is now in the first stage of drought conditions, an increase of 19 percentage points from last week, while the rest of the county remains abnormally dry. A few surrounding counties saw downgrades, as severe drought expanded to a majority of Johnson and Lafayette counties, while most of Carroll, Cooper, Macon, Moniteau, Pettis, Ray, eastern Howard, eastern Randolph, and northern Morgan counties are in moderate drought. Eastern Linn and northeastern-most Chariton counties fell into moderate drought over the past week.

A portion of eastern Benton and northwestern Camden counties along the Lake of the Ozarks reports having normal or excess moisture, making them part of the 2.87 percent of Missouri not experiencing drought or abnormal dryness. Statewide drought conditions improved for parts of 13 counties in southeast Missouri. However, severe drought made its way into more of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The worst drought conditions are centered on Springfield, as Greene and Ozark counties, along with western Douglas County, are among the 2.79 percent of the state in extreme drought.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is released Thursday morning, based upon conditions as of Tuesday morning.  1.11″ of rain fell in Marshall throughout Tuesday, which should be reflected in next week’s update.