Uncertain future for dry Ozarks

Jeremy Elwood

Posted online March 12, 2006 | 11:00 pm

While the current drought has not yet reached the level of historic drought experienced in the 1950s, National Weather Service meteorologist Gene Hatch said the conditions are still extreme.

“If you look, for example, at Joplin going back to July of last year, they had one month where they reached normal rainfall for the month, and that was last August,” Hatch said. “Every other month they’ve been not only below normal, but well below normal.”

“Well below normal” is an understatement.

As of March 7, Joplin had 14.44 inches of rain since July 1, according to NWS estimates – that’s 13.4 inches less than normal. Springfield doesn’t fare much better, coming in at 18.4 inches, 9 inches less than average over the same time.

For those looking for conditions to improve over the next few months, help might be on the way.

Or it might not.

Forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center, part of the National Weather Service, say that as of March 7, the 30-day outlook for March shows equal chances for above, below or near normal temperatures and precipitation.

Or, to put it another way, “There’s not a strong indicator one way or the other that we’re going to have anything other than normal (conditions),” Hatch said. [[In-content Ad]]