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KBIA's ongoing coverage of the midwest's worst drought in half a century.

Much of northern Mo. experiencing flash drought

drought farm field soybeans
Camille Phillips
/
Harvest Public Media
Irrigation waters a field of soybeans at Bradford Research Center outside Columbia, Mo. on August 12, 2012.

Parts of southern Missouri experienced flash flooding this past month. Now parts of northern Missouri are in a flash drought.

That's the phrase being used to describe the sudden onset of drought conditions due to a spike in hot, dry, sunny days with low humidity.

A U.S. Drought Monitor map released last week shows that about a dozen northern Missouri counties are in a severe drought, and moderate drought conditions cover almost the whole northern half of the state.

University of Missouri climatologist Pat Guinan says this may have been the driest August since 1984 in northern Missouri. But because of cooler conditions earlier this summer, he says most crops were in decent condition until the last 10 days of August.

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