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On Second Thought, The Green Hills Are Still Green

March 22, 2024 8:26AM CDT
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On Second Thought, The Green Hills Are Still Green
Drought conditions in Missouri as of Mar. 19th, 2024. (The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Map courtesy of NDMC.)

One week after the U.S. Drought Monitor placed over 46 percent of Missouri in severe or moderate drought, recent rainfall has brought about a bounce back in conditions.  This week’s monitor shows an end to nascent drought conditions for 14 counties along the Missouri River Valley, while abnormal dryness is no longer present in a band stretching along the Iowa border from Athens to Powersville, then south through Adair and Sullivan counties to much of Livingston and Carroll counties.  Abnormally dry conditions also ended in an area stretching from Clarksville and eastern Lincoln County west to the eastern half of Callaway County.

South of the Missouri River, most of Barton and Vernon counties, along with northwestern Cedar County, also exited abnormally dry condition.  While moderate drought ended in western Texas County, the first stage of drought conditions spread into a majority of Oregon County, also adding the southeast corner of Howell County and the southern edges of Carter and Shannon counties.  Scott, southern Cape Girardeau, northwestern Mississippi, and northern Stoddard counties also descended into drought.

3.8 percent of Missouri remains in severe drought, anchored in the Arcadia Valley.  Another 29.5 percent of the state is in moderate drought.  Just under 11 percent of Missouri is now in normal or excess moisture, leaving 55.7 percent of the state in abnormal dryness.

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