ST. LOUIS – A warm and muggy start to Thursday led to more rain and storms through the morning.
St. Louis Lambert International Airport picked up a quick half inch of rain around 11 a.m.
The good news with the stormy pattern we’ve been in is that the drought situation has improved for much of the area.
Taking into account rainfall received up until Tuesday, most of St. Louis County and City are no longer considered to be abnormally dry in the newest drought monitor issued Thursday morning.
Other surrounding areas also showed improvement. The bad news is that the areas experiencing the worst of the drought still have a way to go.
“We went in to 2023 with a lack of water supply. So, we are going to need rain and a lot of snow this winter to get us out of this,” said Chris Chinn, the director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture. “It’s not just a few rains here and there. This is something that’s going to take months to rebuild our water supply.”
The severe weather has done some damage.
“A hailstorm can destroy their growing crop in the field. Whether that be cotton, rice, corn, soybeans. The strong winds also do a lot of damage. They knock that crop over,” Chinn said.
Crop root systems aren’t as deep in drought years, so they’re less resilient to strong winds.