Thursday rains drop 1.65 inches on Cape

Southeast Missouri got more rain in six hours Thursday than in all of August. The morning and midday rains dropped 1.65 inches on Cape Girardeau, with more showers occurring later in the day.

"It looks like for the next week there's a pretty good chance of rain," said Dave Purdy, meteorological technician with the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky. "I don't know if that will be enough to make up the deficit as far as the drought goes."

Much of Southeast Missouri has been in moderate or severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, while some parts of the Bootheel have been in an extreme drought.

Thursday rain may offer a temporary break in the drought, but the real question is what crops were affected by the dry weather and if they can be helped now, Purdy said.

"At this point, a lot of the crops that are going to be damaged are past that point," he said.

While the rain may not have brought much relief to farmers, it did give Cape Girardeau County officials enough to lift a ban on burning.

Capt. Randy Davis of the Jackson Fire Department said Cape Girardeau County lifted the no-burn ban Thursday afternoon, and Jackson followed suit.

The ban had been in effect since Aug. 8.

Cape Girardeau firefighters said there was talk Thursday of lifting the city ban, but official word is expected today.

After a dry late summer, the weather seems to be evening out, according to the National Weather Service.

"At this point, the weather pattern is looking a little more normal," Purdy said.

A La Nina weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean is likely to develop later this year, according to the Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. La Nina -- which means the surface temperature of the eastern Pacific Ocean is slightly lower than normal -- usually produces wetter weather in the Pacific Northwest and drier conditions in the Southwest. Both areas are responsible for sending rain to the Midwest but not "enough to statistically change it," Purdy said. "Statistically, we have a slight chance of a little more rainfall than normal, but not enough to make it an unusual year."

charris@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246