Drought conditions refused to budge much in most of Alabama over the past week — and actually got a bit worse in some areas.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released its weekly look at drought conditions on Thursday, and it was a mixed bag for Alabama.

The state saw a slight increase in the areas not in drought. However, Level 3 out of 4 drought conditions hung on in central and north Alabama and actually expanded just a bit.

Alabama didn’t get a lot of rain in the past week. This rainfall estimate from the past seven days from the National Weather Service shows that a small part of Alabama got an inch at the most, and some spots didn’t get any:

There is more rain in the forecast — just in time for the Christmas holiday. The National Weather Service is expecting most of the state to see at least some rain on Sunday (Christmas Eve) and Monday (Christmas Day). No severe weather is expected but there could be a thunderstorm or two.

The five-day precipitation outlook from NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center suggests that southwest Alabama could see 2 to 3 inches of rain into next week. The rest of the state is expected to get anywhere from a quarter inch to over an inch, according to the forecast:

As for drought conditions, here is the report from the Drought Monitor for Alabama:

* Level 3 out of 4 (extreme) drought: 16.87 percent of the state, an increase from 14.32 percent last week.

* Level 2 (severe) drought: 48.04 percent, an increase from 46.39 percent last week.

* Level 1 (moderate) drought: 67.04 percent, an increase from 65.90 percent last week.

* Level 0 (abnormally dry): 89.41 percent, an decrease from 90.20 percent last week.

* No drought: 10.59 percent, an increase from 9.80 percent last week.

The next Drought Monitor report is scheduled to be released on Dec. 28.