Northeast Missouri received rain last night and central Missouri received showers this morning. But many regions of the state remain dry. Some counties in south central Missouri, near the Arkansas border, have reported less than 0.5 inches since June 2nd.
The highest likelihood of precipitation next week is in southwest Missouri (Figure 1), although precipitation is very difficult to predict this time of year.
Figure 1 Forecasted precipitation through July 15th. Map generated by NOAA - https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov
There are likely to be spot showers and storms during this season that will provide relief for those crops lucky enough to be in the right place. However, in general, there is not much optimism about drought relief.
Figure 2 Scan the QR code with your phone camera to be directed to the Drought Condition Monitoring Website.
Please consider reporting your drought observations to the National Drought Mitigation Center. Use the QR code in Figure 2 or visit the drought reporting website to submit a report. Observations are used by decision makers to drive policies at regional and national levels. There is an option to upload images of affected fields and pastures.
Finally, air temperatures: the extreme, hot temperatures continue through Friday. Near normal air temperatures are forecasted to return next week for the northern region of the state (Figure 3) with highs in the mid to upper 80's. Southern regions will likely be a little warmer than the average, but still cooler than this week.
