Washington DC — Despite recent rain the KICD Broadcast area once again slipped backward in the Thursday update of the USDA Drought Monitor.

Virtually all of Clay, Emmet, O’Brien, and Pocahontas Counties have joined Cherokee and Buena Vista in the D-1 “Moderate” drought category. Pretty much all of Osceola and most of Dickinson Counties remain in the D-Zero “Abnormally Dry” category.

Statewide the area of D-2 “Severe Drought” immediately South of B.V. and Cherokee Counties has shrunk. Statewide less than one percent is now in Severe Drought, down from three percent last week. 19 percent is in Moderate Drought, down from twenty-two percent. Eleven percent is abnormally dry, down one percent, and 70 percent of the state is now considered drought free, up from 63 percent last Thursday.