DECEMBER RAIN HELPS, BUT AREA REMAINS 10 INCHES BELOW NORMAL

Despite recent steady rains, Southeast Missouri remains in a severe drought with rainfall still measuring more than 10 inches below normal for the year.

The more than 4 inches of rain that have fallen at Cape Girardeau so far in December ended seven straight months of below-average precipitation, a string which equaled a record set in 1936 during the Dust Bowl years.

Rainfall at Cape Girardeau through November was 30.45 inches compared to normal rainfall of 41.28 inches.

Prior to Monday, 4.69 inches of precipitation were measured at Cape Girardeau in December by climatologist Dr. Al Robertson, exceeding the December average of 3.72 inches.

"I'm already hearing from people complaining about the rain," a bemused Robertson said.

The rain was expected to end Monday night, with the sun returning today. A chance of rain is predicted Wednesday with the possibility of snow on Saturday.

Mary Lamm, a meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., was reluctant to make a Christmas forecast so far in advance but said cold temperatures are expected.

The prediction for the entire winter is for above normal temperatures and above normal precipitation. "It could be very much like last winter," Lamm said, "warmer and wet."

Southeast Missouri, western Kentucky and southern Ohio were the driest spots in the nation through November. The drought remains even more extreme in western Kentucky and southern Ohio, Lamm said.

The seven months of below-average precipitation in 1936 occurred between May and November, the scenario duplicated this year. The National Weather Service attributes the drought in the central United States to global warming and predicts hotter and drier summers may be in store. Strong summer monsoons in Mexico linked to global warming precipitated the drought, according to the National Weather Service.

The December rains will help suffering farmers, who are trying to cope with a 40 percent decrease in commodity prices this year. Those in Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and southern Perry counties also had smaller yields due to the drought.

Government programs aimed at helping farmers make up losses due to lower prices for corn, soybeans and wheat won't help those also affected by the drought, says Gerald Bryan, an agronomist with the University of Missouri Extension Service.

Bryan said the rain will help save some wheat and pastures and will allow some trees and perennials that build root systems all year long to develop.

Moisture in the soil also helps prevent freeze damage, he said.

But much more rainfall is needed to replenish the moisture that has been lost during the past year.

"It's going to take quite a bit to get the soil back up to what we call field capacity," he said. "It will take awhile to soak back down into those areas."