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Future U.S. Weather Past U.S Weather Morning Dom. Report Noon Update Evening/Weekend Update International Report Gary Rhea Commentary INTERNATIONAL MAPS InterRAD® RainRAD™ Thursday, September 18, 2025 - The drought situation in the U.S. continues to worsen as there was a 6% increase in dry areas over the past week in the country. The latest Drought Monitor map shows nearly 2/3 of the nation is in a drought category as of Tuesday at 66.4%. Early in the summer this value was down to just over 40%. The High Plains region was the only one that saw a decline in dryness, but only about a tenth of a percent to 42.1%. The South Central region gained over 7% in drought and is up to 56.3% too dry. The Southeast region continues to have large increses in dry zones and is up to 71.7% too dry after about a 29% increase from last week. The Midwest is also getting drier after a 10% uptick since last week and is at 59.1% in a dry category. In key Midwest states, Iowa was free of drought last month for about 3 weeks, but is also showing increasing dryness now and went up by nearly 17% to 24.7%. Areas further east have much higher drought zones. Illinois saw over a 30% increase in drought and is up to 95.6% too dry. Indiana dry areas went up by over 10% to nearly 87% too dry. There should be some improvement over the next week for the Midwest in dryness with increasing showers through early next week.