Matplotlib basemap drawcounties doesn't work

Question

Pretty much what the title says. My drawcounties command is just being ignored with no errors. Does it only plot on certain projections? The documentation doesn't say so.

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from mpl_toolkits.basemap import Basemap, shiftgrid
import scipy

def BasemapParameters():
    """
    Sets up basemap.
    """
    m = Basemap(projection='mill', llcrnrlon = 230, llcrnrlat = 27,
                                   urcrnrlat = 45, urcrnrlon = 261,
                                   area_thresh = 1000., resolution='i')
    m.drawcounties(linewidth=0.5)
    m.drawcoastlines(linewidth=0.7)
    m.drawcountries(linewidth=0.5)
    m.drawstates(linewidth=0.5)
    m.drawmapboundary(linewidth=0.7)

def SavePlot(lvl,parameter,region,hour,padding):
    """
    Saves figure to file with given properties
    """
    plt.savefig('{0}_{1}_{2}_{3}.png'.format(lvl,parameter,region,hour),bbox_inches='tight',pad_inches = padding)
    plt.close("all")
    print('  "{0}_{1}_{2}_{3}.png" created.'.format(lvl,parameter,region,hour))

fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(1,1,1)
BasemapParameters()
SavePlot('sfc','3hrpcp','sw','000',.07)

Output:

Answer 1

drawcoastlines() is plotting polygons with white faces, so that is going on top of the county lines.