Drought in Illinois, September 9 to 30, 2025

Name: Drought in Illinois, September 9 to 30, 2025
Start: 2025-09-09T07:00
End: 2025-09-30T23:59
Location: Illinois

September 9 to 30, 2025 · NWS PAH · 17 events in 17 counties and zones

02, Severe Drought (D2) conditions developed in much of Southern Illinois during September. Northwestern portions of Southern Illinois, from Murphysboro to Mount Vernon, entered Severe Drought early September.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 17 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 17

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.

Following a very dry August, during which most of Southern Illinois receiving an inch of rain or less, including the driest August on record at Carbondale with 0.02, Severe Drought (D2) conditions developed in much of Southern Illinois during September. Northwestern portions of Southern Illinois, from Murphysboro to Mount Vernon, entered Severe Drought early September. Mid-month, Severe Drought expanded across the rest of Southern Illinois, except for Edwards and Wabash Counties. Heavy rainfall from the 20th-24th resulted in significant improvement in drought conditions with Severe Drought only continuing into October for the Murphysboro to Fairfield corridor which received near normal September rainfall, whereas Saline County had multiple sites record over 5 inches of rain in September. Agricultural impacts from the drought occurred heading into harvest season. Burn bans were briefly instituted in some areas as a result of the drought.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 9, 5:26 AM CST, 1 hour 34 minutes earlier. Its key messages:

Much warmer conditions are expected as the week wears on, with 90s making a return by Thursday, and mid 90s potential over the weekend.
A week of dry weather in store will heighten fire danger as relative humidity values plummet into the 20s and 30s percentile daily.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 9, 5:26 AM CST, 1 hour 34 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Paducah KY
626 AM CDT Tue Sep 9 2025

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Much warmer conditions are expected as the week wears on,
  with 90s making a return by Thursday, and mid 90s potential
  over the weekend.

- A week of dry weather in store will heighten fire danger as
  relative humidity values plummet into the 20s and 30s
  percentile daily.

&&

.UPDATE...
Issued at 625 AM CDT Tue Sep 9 2025

Updated the aviation discussion for the 12Z TAF issuance.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 259 AM CDT Tue Sep 9 2025

One last well below normal low temperature morning is forecast
today as a very large area of high pressure remains over the
Ohio River Valley. Dry air and low soil moistures with
developing drought will yield commonplace lows in the 40s,
though holding slightly warmer than yesterday morning. A couple
models (NAM and HRRR) show a small disturbance drifting into the
area bringing a smattering of light showers this evening in or
near SEMO, but the lowest km is dry enough that this should, at
the most, just be virga.

This week features a steady warming trend as troughing slowly
gets displaced northeastward as ridging builds in the Plains. An
omega pattern looks cleanest Thursday, but models differ on
cutoff low development off the east coast and don't hold an
omega pattern for long even as ridging remains. Temperatures
rise to near normal today/tonight, then continue to well above
normal for the remainder of the week and weekend with highs in
the low 90s late week and into the mid 90s for some spots over
the weekend. Return flow lifts dew points to the lower half of
the 60s, but dry conditions keep diurnal spreads around 30-35
degrees. There is minimal support for precipitation producing a
few slight chance PoP areas early next week; otherwise dry
conditions are expected. Late week/weekend RHs drop low enough
during the afternoon to be noteworthy from a fire weather
perspective, but winds are forecast to be light through the
forecast. Continuing dry conditions will not do any favors for
our developing drought.

&&

.AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY/...
Issued at 625 AM CDT Tue Sep 9 2025

Predominantly VFR conditions are expected to continue through
the TAF period. Calm winds during early morning hours only
increase to around 5 kts out of the SE/SSE today. SCT high cloud
coverage will have slow lowering late. There's some potential
for patchy ground fog at climatologically favored sites like
KCGI early Wednesday morning.

&&

.PAH WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
IL...None.
MO...None.
IN...None.
KY...None.

&&

UPDATE...ATL
DISCUSSION...ATL
AVIATION...ATL

Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 9, 2:10 AM CST, 4 hours 50 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Paducah KY
310 AM CDT Tue Sep 9 2025

ILZ075>078-080>094-INZ081-082-085>088-KYZ001>022-MOZ076-086-087-
100-107>112-114-100815-
Jefferson-Wayne IL-Edwards-Wabash-Perry IL-Franklin-Hamilton-
White-Jackson-Williamson-Saline-Gallatin-Union-Johnson-Pope-
Hardin-Alexander-Pulaski-Massac-Gibson-Pike-Posey-Vanderburgh-
Warrick-Spencer-Fulton-Hickman-Carlisle-Ballard-McCracken-Graves-
Livingston-Marshall-Calloway-Crittenden-Lyon-Trigg-Caldwell-
Union KY-Webster-Hopkins-Christian-Henderson-Daviess-McLean-
Muhlenberg-Todd-Perry MO-Bollinger-Cape Girardeau-Wayne MO-Carter-
Ripley-Butler-Stoddard-Scott-Mississippi-New Madrid-
310 AM CDT Tue Sep 9 2025 /410 AM EDT Tue Sep 9 2025/

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of southern
Illinois, southwest Indiana, western Kentucky, and southeast
Missouri.

.DAY ONE...Today and Tonight

No hazardous weather is expected at this time.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday

No hazardous weather is expected at this time.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation will not be needed.

ATL

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

17 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Jefferson

When: September 9, 7:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Jefferson forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.301, -88.924 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Perry

When: September 9, 7:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Perry forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.084, -89.367 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Franklin

When: September 9, 7:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Franklin forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.992, -88.924 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Jackson

When: September 9, 7:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Jackson forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.785, -89.382 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Wayne

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Wayne forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.430, -88.426 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Hamilton

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Hamilton forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.082, -88.539 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, White

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: White forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 38.088, -88.180 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Williamson

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Williamson forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.730, -88.930 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Saline

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Saline forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.753, -88.541 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Gallatin

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 21, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Gallatin forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.763, -88.230 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Union

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 28, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Union forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.471, -89.255 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Johnson

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 28, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Johnson forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.460, -88.881 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Pope

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 28, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Pope forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.413, -88.562 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Hardin

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 28, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Hardin forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.518, -88.267 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Alexander

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 28, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Alexander forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.192, -89.338 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Pulaski

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 28, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Pulaski forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.223, -89.127 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Massac

When: September 14, 7:00 AM CST to September 28, 7:00 AM CST
Where: Massac forecast zone
Reported by: Drought Monitor
Coordinates: 37.219, -88.708 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Illinois in 2025 Every state in 2025 This day in weather history Warnings in Illinois, September 2025

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1291561, 1291562, 1291563, 1291564, 1291565, 1291566, 1291567, 1291569, 1291570, 1291571, 1291572, 1291573, 1291574, 1291575, 1291576, 1291577, 1291578.