The three-quarters of an inch of rain recorded across much of the region last Saturday wasn’t enough to improve the drought conditions across most of the area.
The latest Illinois Drought Monitor released Thursday still shows 99 percent of Marion County in severe drought. The only exception was a portion of the Centralia area that was in moderate drought along with northern Washington and all of Clinton County. The rest of the region remains in severe drought except southern Jefferson and southern Wayne County which are also at the moderate drought level.
The next chance for measurable precipitation is on Christmas Day when more than a half inch of rain could fall.
The Seasonal Drought Outlook predicts whether drought will develop, remain, improve, or be removed in the next 3 months or so.
