Tracking late-season drought development
Meteorological summer officially ended on Aug. 31, and astronomical summer wraps up in just a few days. As the season concludes, how does this year’s summer rainfall stack up?
Earlier this summer, Missouri experienced something rare: drought-free conditions across the entire state—something not seen since 2022.
One of the biggest factors behind that was an exceptionally wet July. At Rosecrans Memorial Airport in St. Joseph, 9.74 inches of rainfall were recorded for the month—more than five inches above the average. The excess rain left soils hydrated and crops well-saturated heading into the latter part of the season.
Because of this surplus, the lack of rainfall in August went mostly unnoticed at first. August ended more than 3.10 inches below average in rainfall. However, thanks to mild temperatures, drought and dryness didn’t become apparent until recently.
As late-summer heat set in and rainfall remained scarce, ground moisture began to drop. By early September, soils had become noticeably dry and ready for the next significant rain event.
Looking back at meteorological summer, which spans from June 1 to Aug. 31—St. Joseph collected 14.04 inches of rain, slightly above the seasonal average of 13.32 inches. Despite the overall total being near normal, much of that precipitation arrived in a short window, leading to uneven impacts on soil moisture and drought development.
It’s the recent stretch of warm, dry weather in September that’s now having the greatest impact on local drought conditions. Meanwhile, other parts of the Show Me state have dealt with intensifying drought conditions for the past two months, especially across the Ozark Plateau, where moderate to severe drought has become more widespread.
Fortunately, some much-needed rainfall could be on the way. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor, released Thursday, Sept. 18, reflects data through Sept. 16, meaning it does not account for rain received later Thursday or into the weekend.
As of 8:30 a.m. Thursday morning, 0.8 inches of rain had fallen so far this month in St. Joseph. The Storm Tracker team remains hopeful that additional rainfall this weekend will help soil conditions stabilize as we transition into fall.
