JEFFERSON CITY, MO, FEB. 20, 2024 – The Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ Drought Assessment Committee will meet at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 7, in Jefferson City to continue coordinating a comprehensive state and federal response to drought conditions affecting portions of the state.
This will be the Drought Assessment Committee’s first meeting of 2024 and second since Governor Mike Parson issued Executive Order 23-05, which continued the state’s drought alert to May 1, 2024. Missouri has been under a drought alert continuously for the past eight months. A previous drought alert was also active from July 2022 to March 2023.
The meeting will be held in the LaCharrette and Nightingale conference rooms at 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=m0d92d727aeac5088697ab6ad8f9cbc93.
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 over the past 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.