The weekly Illinois Drought Monitor shows more of South Central Illinois has deteriorated into the extreme drought category even with some recent rains. The very small corner of South West Marion County that was in severe drought has fallen into extreme drought as has the eastern half of Clinton County along with all of Washington, Jefferson, Fayette, Clay, and Wayne Counties.
The extreme drought extends to the Indiana border to the Mississippi River south of the St. Louis area. Drought conditions become less severe heading into the central part of the state. Most of the northern half of the state has normal soil moisture conditions except an area that runs from south of Springfield around the Quincy area.
Statewide, 1.4 million residents are now in an area with drought conditions. The latest drought condition map was published on data current as of Tuesday of this week.
