West Virginia Drought Status

Drought Intensifies
Exceptional drought pushed southward and eastward in West Virginia this week, while the extent of extreme and severe drought also expanded across the state. Extreme drought now covers 53% of West Virginia, beating the state’s previous record during the U.S. Drought Monitor era of 43% set just last week. Combined, exceptional and extreme drought cover over 60% of the state, with the area not in drought shrinking this week. This expansion was due to factors such as ongoing drought-related impacts and persistent rainfall deficits, which range from 4 to 6 inches below normal for Beckley, Charleston, Elkins, and Huntington for the past 90-day period (June 13–September 10). In fact, this June 13-September 10 period ranked among the 10 driest such periods for three of those sites. Of note, though, part of the northern edge of exceptional drought contracted slightly due to localized beneficial rainfall.

For the third consecutive week, all of West Virginia had topsoil moisture in the very short-short categories, based USDA crop reports for the week ending September 8. The report continued to show the condition of pastures, corn, soybeans, apples, and hay in the very poor, poor, and fair categories, with none in the good or excellent categories – similar to the past two weeks. Streamflow, groundwater levels, and reservoir levels were below normal across much of the state, with Richwood, WV, recently enacting mandatory water restrictions.

Outlooks from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center for the 6-10- and 8-14-day periods (September 17-25) predict above-normal temperatures and near- or above-normal precipitation. Above-normal temperatures could lead to increased evapotranspiration rates; however, some of that may be offset in areas that see above-normal precipitation. There continues to be an elevated risk of wildfires beyond what is typical for fall in West Virginia. 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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