Alabama’s drought continues to worsen.

Drought conditions expanded in the state over the past week, and “extreme” drought expanded to include more areas, according to this week’s report from the U.S. Drought Monitor, which keeps an eye on drought conditions nationwide.

The Drought Monitor report looks at conditions from week to week. This week’s report, which was issued Thursday morning, looks at the Oct. 17-24 timeframe.

Parts of Alabama got a little rain during that period, but not enough to make a dent in the drought.

Southwest Alabama remained in extreme drought, which is Level 3 out of 4 drought categories from the Drought Monitor. And the extreme drought areas grew to include parts of northeast and northwest Alabama this week.

The report said 11.58 percent of the state was in extreme drought, an increase from 6.14 percent last week.

A wider area, 53.82 percent of the state, is now in severe drought, Level 2 out of 4. That’s an increase from 43.91 percent last week.

The report said 89.31 percent of Alabama is now in moderate drought, Level 1, an increase from 84.37 percent last week.

And 99.56 of the state is classified as abnormally dry (or Level 0), which means on the verge of drought.

Drought conditions don’t look to get any better in the upcoming week.

The National Weather Service is forecasting continued dry conditions over the next seven days, with little to no rain expected for much of the state.

NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center’s seven-day precipitation outlook suggests parts of Alabama may not see a drop of rain over the next week, and the ones that may see rain won’t get more than a tenth of an inch.

Most of the rain is expected to stay to the north and west of Alabama over the coming week.

The Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) this week re-issued a Fire Alert for all of Alabama.

In 32 northern counties roughly north of Interstate 20, no burn permits will be issued. In 35 counties south of Interstate 20, certified prescribed burn managers may obtain a one-day burn permit. There will be no exceptions to this rule, according to the AFC.