SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The National Weather Service released its U.S. Drought Monitor Thursday, and most of the Ozarks is under some level of drought, from ‘Abnormally Dry’ to “Severe Drought’, which is more common in southwestern Missouri counties.
“The drought monitor is a way for the National Weather Service to monitor the extent of the dry weather. They look at hydrologic features, they look at historical data in the last few days or weeks, and also there is input from local sources, USDA and others and other resources that goes into this,” Tim Shnakenberg with the University of Missouri – Extension in Stone County said.
Shnakenberg is an agronomist as well.
“As a result, that information is put together in a conglomeration where we can see from county to county how our drought is progressing. I think over time, if it continues to get worse, there may be some federal or state, mainly state programs that could happen as a result of that,” Shnakenberg said.
He adds droughts are happening more often than he’d like to see.