TOLEDO, Ohio — After several doses of much-needed rainfall this week, you may be wondering how drought conditions have changed across the region. For much of Ohio and Michigan, drought has remained steady or worsened due to the overall lack of September rainfall.
Locally, this recent rainfall at least mitigated the drought from worsening. In this week's edition of Climate Friday, Meteorologist John Burchfield breaks down this week's drought monitor and how drought is expected to progress into the start of October.
Across Ohio, severe drought has expanded over the past week. Though parts of the Buckeye State received necessary rainfall, much of the region remained relatively dry.
A week ago, 59% of Ohioans were experiencing a severe drought. Now, 64% of the state is feeling the impacts of a severe drought. This severe drought region includes all of Lucas County and most of northwest Ohio.
Other locations suffering from severe drought include Ottawa, Wood, Henry, Fulton, Williams, and Defiance Counties. Not only has severe drought expanded across Ohio, all levels of drought conditions have increased in Ohio.
Close to 98% of Ohio is abnormally dry or under drought conditions. 88% of the state is experiencing a moderate drought or worse, which is relatively unchanged from last week. Severe drought has grown significantly in the past seven days, jumping 5% statewide.
Extreme drought has also grown markedly, expanding from 30% to 36% of Ohio in the past week. The greatest magnitude of drought conditions, labelled exceptional drought, has jumped from 9.5% to 12.6% in the past week.
Though these extreme and exceptional drought conditions are not currently impacting northwest Ohio, they continue to affect central and southeastern Ohio due to a relative lack of recent rainfall. As a whole, 87 of the 88 counties in Ohio are currently feeling the impacts of a drought or abnormally dry conditions.
So how much rain has fallen this week in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan? Rainfall has been largely hit-or-miss with some areas receiving a sizeable amount of needed rain and other locations missing out on the precipitation.
Overall, the heaviest rain this week has occurred southeast of the Maumee River. Portions of Wood County picked up over two inches of rain this week with the sweet spot between Luckey, Pemberville, and Woodville. Rainfall amounts around half an inch were common in Lucas County this week, and Toledo Express Airport picked up 0.45 inches, contributing to a paltry 0.69 inches this month.
Far south of Toledo, areas between Ottawa and Findlay picked up an inch to inch and a half of needed rain. Erie and Huron Counties received the heaviest rainfall this week, primarily during Tuesday evening's severe storms. Locations between Wakeman and Vermilion picked up a whopping 4-5 inches of rain.
The latest drought monitor reflects a slight downtick in drought across these north central Ohio locations, with much of Erie and Huron Counties considered abnormally dry, but not officially in a drought. Even though this region southeast of Toledo has picked up a bit more rain this month, most areas are still very much in need of rain. Moderate or worse drought conditions are currently affecting every single local county, including southern Michigan locations such as Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
So will we continue to see rounds of rain to chip away at the ongoing drought? As the remnants of Hurricane Helene move into the Ohio River Valley, showers will develop Friday evening and overnight. Rainfall amounts of a quarter to up to half an inch are expected Friday night into Saturday.
The highest rainfall amounts are likely south of Toledo, which will come as good news to parts of Wyandot and Crawford Counties that are under severe drought conditions. Rounds of scattered showers will persist through the weekend, providing additional rain chances for drought-stricken areas.
Through early next week, rainfall totals over an inch are likely south of Toledo with lesser amounts along and north of the state line. Though the rainfall from Helene won't be a total drought-buster, any rainfall will be appreciated to at least prevent further expansion and intensification of drought conditions.
The last week of September has finally delivered some much-needed rain, and while drought conditions have prevailed across Ohio and Michigan, this precipitation has made a small dent in the rainfall deficit. If you're still in need of rain, stay tuned to the WTOL 11 weather team for the latest timing and amounts of weekend rainfall.
The ongoing drought will likely impact fall conditions this October, and in upcoming editions of the Climate Friday Newsletter, Meteorologist John Burchfield will break down the affects of the drought on fall foliage and the harvest.