RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor update was released this morning, indicating Virginia’s dry conditions improved slightly over the past week. The first level of drought, D1-Moderate Drought, area shrunk slightly from covering 19.21 percent of the Commonwealth last week to 17.64 percent this week. Although the recent scattered heavy thunderstorms have produced local good rainfall accumulations, we remain in need of a healthy widespread rainfall that will soak deeper into the soil, as opposed to the run-off resulting from a downpour.
The abnormally dry area also diminished a bit from about 82 percent of the state to about 75 percent. Here are the stats for Virginia in Thursday’s update:
The driest parts of Virginia are running as much as six to twelve inches below-normal for year-to-date precipitation, as shown in this National Weather Service plot:
It is worth noting that Virginia’s Eastern Shore is the hardest-hit part of the Commonwealth, now showing the second level of drought, D2-Severe Drought, in the northern part of the area. Those drought conditions extend northward into eastern Maryland and Delaware.
For the U.S. as a whole, the overall trend continues, with the worst of the drought in the nation’s Heartland, which has also been under a nearly-constant extreme heat wave this Summer. Some pockets of the worst drought areas experienced some improvement over the past week, while others deteriorated further. CLICK HERE to read the full breakdown of each region of the U.S. in this week’s Drought Monitor.
Meteorologist Carrie Rose
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