Drought — De Kalb, Missouri

2018-10-01 to 2018-10-09 · De Kalb, Missouri

Event narrative

Due to widespread dry conditions through the summer and early fall of 2018 most counties experienced extreme to exceptional drought (D3-D4). While some counties saw marked improvement through the late summer and early fall the drought continued into the second week of October. The drought improved area-wide after 6-12 inches of rain fell in a four day stretch in early October. This effectively ended the drought area-wide. While the exact damage costs are unknown, it is estimated that farmer across the entire region suffered millions of dollars of losses due to the extremely dry conditions.

Wider weather episode

After a very dry summer, exceptional drought (D4) conditions were experienced area-wide, resulting in heavy losses for local farmers. Things changed in October when widespread heavy rain effectively ended that drought. Widespread 6 to 9 inches of rain fell, with some locations receiving over a foot of rain over the 4 day stretch from October 6 through October 9. By October 9th, the drought was effectively ended by the UNL drought monitor.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 790243. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.