The drought conditions across Alabama are now the worst of the year with parts of 11 counties enduring "extreme drought" conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

With 82.85 percent of the state categorized from "abnormally dry" to "extreme drought," it's the highest percentage in Alabama since July 31, 2012.

"Extreme drought" is the second-highest classification on the drought monitor scale.

While parts of north Alabama have dealt with extreme drought for months, it has now stretched as far south as the Opelika/Auburn area in Lee County in east Alabama.

Counties in which parts are listed under extreme drought: Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Blount, Jackson, DeKalb, Cherokee, Cleburne, Calhoun, Lee and Chambers.

In the past week, drought conditions across the state took a sudden turn for the worse. Last week, only Jackson and a small sliver of DeKalb were classified under extreme drought - an area that covered 1.74 percent of the state.

That percentage more than tripled in the past week.

Altogether, the area of the state affected by some classification of drought rose 9.6 percent.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in July declared a drought disaster for six Alabama counties: Jackson, DeKalb, Madison, Cherokee, Etowah and Marshall.

Some part of Alabama has been classified under extreme drought for 14 straight weeks, but the percentage of area affected by that classification was never more than 3.32 percent until Thursday.

The 6.36 percent of area affected by extreme drought is the highest in Alabama since 8.03 percent on January 29, 2013.

Parts of all 67 counties in Alabama are included in some drought classification.