Union County experiences drought conditions

Union County was experiencing drought conditions as of Thursday, Aug. 2.

A map posted on the U.S. Drought Monitor’s website during the past week showed that Union County was in a D0 drought category, which meant that conditions were abnormally dry.

The map showed that Alexander County, Pulaski County, Massac County and parts of Johnson and Jackson counties also were in the D0 category, as were parts of Southeast Missouri and Western Kentucky.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is a weekly map of drought conditions produced jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

The U.S. Drought Monitor website is hosted and maintained by the drought center.

Generally, precipitation was below normal for much of the Midwest as July came to an end.

The only areas that received above-normal rains were eastern Missouri, central Illinois and western Indiana. 

Elsewhere, D0 and D1 was expanded to cover rapidly deteriorating conditions which were mostly concentrated in Missouri, but also at the southern tip of Illinois and in southern Iowa.

Some very light rain fell in parts of the Union County area on Tuesday morning. 

The National Weather Service office in Paducah is calling for a chance of showers and thunderstorms 

on Thursday, today. There's another chance for rain on Saturday and Sunday.

Local weather observer Dana Cross recorded only .93 of an inch of rain during July in the Jonesboro area.

The weather service, however, reported that 2.66 inches of rain had been recorded during a July 31 downpour in the Cobden area.

Overall, the weather service in Paducah reported, much of the region experienced drier than normal conditions during July.

Abnormally dry conditions had developed across portions of Southeast Missouri and Western Kentucky near the end of the month.

Overall, rainfall amounts ranged from 1 to 3 inches in many locations. Some locations observed less than half an inch of rainfall for the entire month.

The weather service noted that due to the nature of summer thunderstorms, some isolated locations did experience wetter than normal conditions during July, when they picked up more than 5 inches of rain.

The weather service reported that temperatures during July in the region were above normal by 0.5 of a degree to 2 degrees.

“The month started out with oppressive heat and humidity that resulted in one of our hottest 4th of Julys on record,” the weather service reported.

“Daily heat index values ranged from 100 to 115 degrees from July 1st through the 5th. Many locations also experienced heat index values in excess of 100 degrees nearly daily from July 10th through 17th.

“The worst two days of the month, with numerous heat index values exceeding 100 degrees, were July 5th and 14th.”

A change in the weather pattern brought a break in the heat and humidity levels during the final 10 days of the month.