West Virginia Drought Status

Slight Improvements But Exceptional Drought Holds On
Heavy rainfall in late September continued to provide some drought relief in southern and eastern portions of West Virginia, with extreme, severe, and moderate drought contracting slightly. However, the footprint of exceptional drought was unchanged, and extreme, severe, and moderate drought persisted in western, central, and northern parts of the state. This week, 90% of West Virginia remains in drought. Spotty precipitation was combined with above-normal temperatures during the past week, with Huntington not seeing measurable precipitation so far this month (October 1-9). Rainfall deficits for the past 90-day period (July 11 – October 8) range from 0.22 inches in Beckley to 4.87 inches below normal in Charleston.

Rainfall, including from the remnants of Hurricane Helene, boosted soil moisture in West Virginia, with USDA data showing 67% of West Virginia had topsoil moisture in the very short-short categories for the week ending October 6. However, the condition of apples, corn, hay, pastures, and soybeans in the state remained in the very poor, poor, and fair categories, with none of these crops in the good or excellent categories – similar to the past few weeks. Pasture and rangeland conditions were in the poor or very poor categories for 90% of West Virginia, a minor improvement compared to last week’s 93%. Drought conditions have stressed livestock and likely wildlife, as well. While much of West Virginia saw normal or higher 7-day average streamflow, groundwater levels remained below normal or lower in several locations.

High pressure is expected to dominate the weather pattern over the next week, with outlooks from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center for the 6-10- and 8-14-day periods (October 15-23) favoring below-normal precipitation for West Virginia. This means that drought conditions could be slow to improve. Temperatures lean cooler than normal for the 6-10 day period but near or warmer than normal for the 8-14 day period. Looking ahead to winter, La Niña conditions are expected to emerge, which tends to increase storminess and lead to above-normal precipitation for the Ohio Valley, possibly helping ease drought conditions. The NRCC’s full weekly drought update can be found here and drought impacts can be reported here and viewed here.

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