Over 80% of Virginia Experiencing Severe Drought Conditions

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report shows the entirety of Virginia is experiencing some level of drought conditions right now. The majority of the state is classified as “severe drought” with the greatest deficits in the counties along the North Carolina border.

The precipitation amounts over the last two months are less than half of what is normal for this time of year. The lack of rain is impacting Virginia’s agricultural industry and farmers’ planting timelines.

Michael Duttter, a science and operations officer at the National Weather Service Wakefield office, said Richmond only saw 0.97″ of rain for April, which is the sixth driest April on record. Richmond saw only 2.69″ of rain in March and April, making it the fourth driest March and April on record for the state’s capital city.

Even with the rain parts of the commonwealth experienced last week, drought conditions aren’t expected to change unless a period of sustained rain shows up in the forecast soon. The Department of Environmental Quality reports that out of the 201 stream gauges with continuous flow data, 60 were setting record daily lows as of April 28.

Weedon Cloe, manager of DEQ’s office of water supply, said the drought is partially due to a dry winter. Despite the ice storms that impacted much of the state in January, there has been a lack of precipitation to recharge the groundwater wells.

“The reservoirs right now are still in fairly good shape. We’ve been sort of fortunate in that we haven’t had a super prolonged time of heat, in combination with a full leaf out (of trees),” Cloe said.“It’s the time when things are going to start really warming up consistently, and with all the trees and vegetation continuing to suck moisture out of the ground, it’s just going to get drier.”

The dry season has created challenges for some crops that need the soil to be moist for germination.

Olga Walsh, a grain crop extension specialist with Virginia Tech, said that corn producers are pushing back their planting times while the soil is too dry. That means the corn will be faced with higher heat at critical pollination periods, however, which could impact yields.

“If it’s cooler, as we see it now, probably two inches of rain would do a good job, at least for germination, and they would probably get in the field and plant,” Walsh said. “But if we see an increase in temperature … that is not going to be helpful.”

Other small grains, such as barley and wheat, are seeing better fields that have been watered with pockets of rain and are farther along in the growing process.

The Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force will meet on May 12 with the next round of condition updates.

by Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury

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