NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – The weekly Drought Monitor was updated on Thursday and it showed drought conditions worsening in Middle Tennessee, particularly from the I-40 corridor southward. The weekly Drought Monitor includes rainfall up to Tuesday of the current week.

A comparison to last week’s Drought Monitor shows Extreme Drought (in red) expanding east/west and extending northward into Williamson, Rutherford, Coffee, Warren, Van Buren, Hickman, Parry, and Decatur counties (and includes all counties southward into northern Alabama).

(Picture courtesy of Brian Wells)

Areas along I-40 that were in Moderate Drought (lighter shade of orange) have been upgraded to Severe Drought (darker shade of orange).

The only improvements were in parts of Western Kentucky where some areas received up to 3.50 inches of rain on Monday.

Fire danger continues to be high with all of the dry conditions.

This fire pictured to the left happened Wednesday on Sewanee Mountain in Franklin County

Officials are asking people to not burn outdoors and there are burn bans in effect for many Middle Tennessee counties.

The next significant chance for rain is Thursday, Nov. 9, so drought conditions and fire danger are expected to continue.