Ohio and Pennsylvania Are in a Drought

Friday, June 16, 2023

It’s going to take more than a few days of rain to pull the region out of its unusually dry start to the growing season.

Much of Ohio and Pennsylvania were officially designated as being in a drought last week.

According to the June 8 U.S. Drought Monitor update, 62% of Ohio and 65% of Pennsylvania are experiencing moderate drought conditions. The rest of both states are considered to be abnormally dry.

A large swath of Ohio, from southwest to northeast, got between 1 and 2 inches of rain over the weekend, said Geddy Davis, a meteorologist and atmospheric scientist at Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, which brought farmers some immediate relief from the dust.

More stormy weather is in the forecast over the coming week, but Davis said folks should temper their enthusiasm. We’re not out of the woods, yet.

“This rain helps. It absolutely helps,” Davis said. “We’ll probably see a green up here in a day or two, but if we don’t get that consistency, it’s easy to fall back into that drought pattern.”

By the numbers

Davis said many parts of Ohio are running anywhere from 1.5 to 3 inches below normal for rainfall for May.

Youngstown had 1.3 inches of rain in May, a 2.42 inch departure from normal. Dayton got 1.89 inches of rain last month, 2.6 inches below normal. Wooster got 1.6 inches of rainfall, 2.3 inches below normal.

Though it’s dried up recently, Ohio overall is about average for precipitation for the year, Davis said. January was quite wet and the rest of the months had average amounts of precipitation until May. In fact, the state is slightly above normal for precipitation for the year so far, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System, or NIDIS.

In Pennsylvania, recent conditions are about the same, according to June 12 U.S. Department of Agriculture Crop Progress report. In the past month, most areas are at about 3 inches below normal on rainfall.

This was the fifth driest May on record in Pennsylvania, with about 1.7 inches of precipitation for the state. That’s a 2.23 inch departure from normal.

It’s also been one of the drier starts to a year in recorded weather history. This is the 12th driest January to May period since 1895. The state is about 3 inches below normal for precipitation for the year, according to the NIDIS.

Source: farmanddairy.com