Recent rains have not been enough to alleviate drought conditions in north central Arkansas. The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor maps released Thursday continue to show most of Arkansas is in extreme drought, four out of five on their scale, with parts of northern Arkansas in exceptional drought, five out of five on their scale. Unfortunately, the National Weather Service in North Little Rock says there is not much relief in sight.
The new map for Arkansas shows most of Fulton, Izard and Stone counties in the exceptional drought category. The rest of north central Arkansas, with the exception of northern Baxter, Marion and Boone counties are listed in the extreme drought category. The northern parts of Baxter, Marion and Boone counties are shown to be in the severe and moderate categories.
In southern Missouri, the situation is not much better. Southern Howell County is in the severe drought category. The rest of Howell County, along with Ozark and Taney counties are shown in the moderate drought or abnormally dry categories. All of Douglas County is listed as abnormally dry.
The National Weather Service says there is rain in the forecast through the middle of next week but amounts are not expected to make much of a dent in the drought. Rainfall amounts through next Wednesday for the area are expected to be between one quarter of an inch and one inch.
So far in April, 1.42 inches of rain has been recorded at the KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot studios, the official reporting station in Mountain Home for the National Weather Service. The average rainfall for the month is 5.60 inches.
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