Conditions improved over the past week but most of Illinois including Marion County remains in a drought.
State Climatologist Trent Ford says while many areas enjoyed some rain recently, it wasn’t enough to fully replenish moisture levels.
“We did see some widespread improvement across most of northeast and central Illinois. But the improvement was from severe to moderate drought. So still in drought, it just kinds of takes the intensity down a notch.”
The latest drought monitor puts all of Marion County in the moderate drought category. The western portions of Clinton and Washington Counties have moved into the severe drought category. Parts of eastern Clay and Wayne Counties to the Indiana border are just listed as abnormally dry.
Extreme drought conditions are limited to small portions of Adams and Pike Counties. The only areas of Illinois not considered to be in a drought or abnormally dry are parts of Sangamon, Christian, Macoupin and Montgomery Counties.
Ford says growing crops need more rain through the end of this month into August, and that stream and river levels are nowhere near replenished.
