Southwest Missouri and Southeast Kansas received some much-needed rain this weekend, but it will likely do little to improve drought conditions. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
According to the latest National Drought Monitor Reportreleased last week over 94 percent of Missouriis experiencing one of the five levels of drought. About half of the Show-Me-State is listed as in Severe drought which could include an increase in fires, and burn bans implemented.
Also, pond and river levels decline, pastures do not grow and crops are stressed. Compared to this time last year, Missouri is experiencing a 35 percent increase in the amount of area that is in drought.
While in neighboring Kansasthe situation is more dire where on top of about 88 percent of the state in drought nearly ⅓ of the Sunflower state is mired in extreme drought stretching from southeast Kansas, through the central and western portions of the state.
During extreme drought emergency grazing is opened; corn and wheat crops fail; pasture conditions are poor and major infestations of locusts occur.
Roughly 5.8 million of Missouri and Kansas’s combined population of 9 million residents are affected by the drought.
The report is updated by the National Drought Mitigation Center weekly on Thursday.
