JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. –- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Drought Assessment Committee will convene this afternoon to continue coordinating a comprehensive state and federal response to drought conditions affecting portions of the state.
Virtually all of Missouri is now in some stage of drought – 99.86% of the state.
This is an increase of 8 percentage points since last week. There are only two tiny areas of Mississippi and New Madrid counties are not experiencing some degree of drought!
The latest Missouri drought map shows severe droght in Ste. Genevieve County, while the northwest portion of Perry County is in severe drought while the southeast corner is in moderate drought.
This will be the Drought Assessment Committee’s first meeting since Governor Mike Parson last month extended Executive Order 23-05 to continue the state’s drought alert to May 1, 2024. Missouri has been under a drought alert continuously for the past six months. A previous drought alert was also active from July 2022 to March 2023.
The Drought Assessment Committee will meet at 2 p.m. today in the LaCharrette/Nightingale conference rooms of the Lewis and Clark State Office Building, located at 1101 N. Riverside Drive in Jefferson City. The meeting is open to the public and will also be livestreamed via Webex at stateofmo.webex.com/stateofmo/j.php?MTID=m8c1e24a627812a2099370b81f431828f
The Drought Assessment Committee comprises representatives from state and federal partner agencies who provide information, recommendations and coordination to mitigate impacts of the drought. Executive Order 23-05 declared a drought alert for Missouri counties that are in moderate, severe or extreme drought. Nearly all of Missouri has experienced at least abnormally dry conditions this year.
Residents are encouraged to assist local, state and national decision makers better understand drought conditions in their area by submitting a survey form via the Condition Monitoring Observer Reports service at droughtimpacts.unl.edu/Tools/ConditionMonitoringObservations.aspx.
Updated drought information, including a link to the U.S. Drought Monitor map of Missouri, is available at dnr.mo.gov/drought.