Warm rains, an unusually hot day or two or a few very warm nights can often trigger their emergence, too. In years when soil temperatures warm slowly, the first morels are late, scattered and slow to develop. If you start with black morels and end with late morels, you can extend your season to a month or more. If you hunt for only one species, a week or two is usually all you get. If you rushed ahead to this part to learn how to find the secret spots, well, they're not here.
Morels are less predictable than most wild things, and their habits are maddening.
They often grow where they shouldn't, and they don't grow where they should. You must enjoy the looking as much as the picking, or you will not last long as a morel hunter. Sadly, a very high percentage of Missouri's forests and fields contain no morels at all. Many areas that look exactly like spots where you had great success before may not hold a single mushroom. It is easy to blame your eyesight or arriving too early or too late.