Drought worsens across state; little rain in forecast

The latest Drought Monitor shows conditions across Arkansas through Tuesday morning.
The latest Drought Monitor shows conditions across Arkansas through Tuesday morning.

Nearly a third of Arkansas is now under a severe drought or worse, and no significant rain chances are forecast in the coming days.

The U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday and reflecting conditions through Tuesday morning shows 32.88 percent of the state under at least a severe level, up from about 16.9 percent a week earlier.

The monitor defines conditions on a progressive scale starting with abnormally dry and continuing with moderate drought, severe drought, extreme drought and exceptional drought.

A sliver of far south Arkansas in Union County accounting for 0.4 percent of the state is listed under the worst category, exceptional. None of the state was in that category last week.

A larger swath of south and southwest Arkansas accounting for 6.43 percent of the state was listed as being in extreme drought or worse. That was up from 4.64 percent a week earlier.

Sean Clarke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, said there's little relief in sight. A system will bring rain chances into the state Thursday into Friday, but the amounts will likely range only from a tenth of an inch to a quarter-inch.

"We're fairly confident people are going to see rain," he said. "However, we don't think the rain amounts will be that great. It's probably not going to be enough to ease much of the pain in the drought situation."

Another front is due Monday, but it doesn't appear to have much moisture associated with it. And "beyond that, there are really no significant rain chances in the forecast," Clarke said.

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