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Dry conditions expected to carryover into 2024

Missouri’s State Climatologist says 2023 is wrapping up drier than usual and there’s not much moisture in the forecast.

Zach Leasor says some recent rain has been good for Missouri, but an eight-month drought isn’t fixed with a few rain events.

“It’s going to take a lot of rainfall to dig out of some precipitation deficits we’ve accumulated this year. What we look at for the winter isn’t just normal rainfall, but we hope we can see more rainfall than usual.”

Leasor says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s forecast resembles an El Nino winter.

“That would include warmer-than-normal temperatures, which would continue from the 2023 trend and then, Missouri is right in the middle of precipitation, stuck between below and above normal,” he says. “Looks like to the southeast in the Bootheel there will be a better chance of moisture and drier to the northwest.”

Leasor says whatever happens this winter will affect the planting season in Missouri.