The statistical distributions of optical vortices or topological charge in stochastic optical fields can be inhomogeneous in both transverse directions. Such two-dimensional inhomogeneous vortex or topological charge distributions evolve in a complex way during free-space propagation. While the evolution of one-dimensional topological charge densities can be described by a linear diffusion process, the evolution of two-dimensional topological charge densities exhibits some additional nonlinear dynamics. Here we propose a phase drift mechanism as a partial explanation for this additional nonlinear dynamics. Numerical results are presented in support of this proposal.