The residents of Oregon County have not had a measurable amount of rain in a couple of weeks. A burn ban has been issued for Oregon County by County Commissioner David Stubblefield due to fire-favorable conditions. Governor Parson and his senior staff met together to prepare if conditions worsen. According to the National Drought Mitigation Center, Oregon County is in a severe drought right now.
Counties Affected
Almost all of Oregon County is in a severe drought, and half of Howell and Ripley are also in a severe drought( 2.4% of the state). The majority of southern Missouri (20.1%) is in a moderate drought. Roughly, 63.7% of Missouri is considered abnormally dry with northern Missouri not affected at all.
How It’s Measured
The National Drought Mitigation Center has five categories. D0 is abnormally dry. D1 is a moderate drought with burn bans beginning. D2 is a severe drought with surface water levels very low. D3 is an extreme drought with ponds drying up and major crop loss is reported. The final category D4 which is an exceptional drought, is when agricultural loss is widespread and people are digging more wells. [1]
Oregon County
Over the past 128 years according to the National Drought Mitigation Center, June of 2022 was the driest June on record with 3.79 inches of rain from normal. [2] It is estimated that 20,804 acres of hay are in drought in Oregon County.
Governor Parson
On July 12, 2022, Governor Mike Parson of Missouri tweeted to say that he met with his senior staff on getting prepared if the drought gets worse.
Notes:
- ^https://www.drought.gov/states/missouri (go back ↩)
- ^https://www.drought.gov/states/missouri/county/Oregon (go back ↩)
