DAYTON — Good Thursday afternoon, everyone! Weather Specialist Nick Dunn here to break down the latest on the drought. Parts of the Miami Valley saw some nice improvements from last week thanks to steady rain that fell Tuesday, while some are feeling left out and in need of rain.
Quite the difference here this week with wide ranging conditions as we see big improvements for those near and south of I-70 where 3-6″ of rain fell. To the north, you missed out and there are still Severe to Extreme Drought conditions existing.
Looking at the numbers, you see we did make good improvements in the Moderate and Severe Drought categories as we saw declines compared to last week. With widespread rainfall in the forecast this weekend, it is likely we see further improvements next week.
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So, how much rain would we need over the course of 30 days to bring things back to even? Check out these numbers from NOAA! 3-4″ of rain over 30 days would bring drought impacts down and help bring things back closer to even. Think of these as an average that is needed over a given area. For October, Dayton averages just under 3 inches of rain, so you can see where we need to run well above normal across the northern counties to ease drought issues, while running close to normal would help those near and south of I-70.
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Signs continue to point to widespread rain this weekend. While we continue to work through some timing issues between models, the signal is clear that beneficial rain remains on target for the Miami Valley. Stay tuned for updates as we continue to approach the weekend! 0.50-1.00″ of rain appears likely, with some guidance suggesting higher totals. Any rain will help improve the drought!
