Virginia: Drought advisories remain in effect despite beneficial rains over the past week

We got us some rain in the past week, up to six inches in some parts of Virginia, but we’re still not out of the woods in terms of the ongoing long-term drought.

The Drought Monitoring Task Force reported Friday that the Richmond area is in the range of normal year-to-date precipitation amounts, but the rest of the Commonwealth is experiencing deficits ranging from 5.3 inches in Norfolk to 9.4 inches in Danville.

The seven-day forecast calls for slightly above average temperatures with predicted rainfall totals of 0.25 to 0.75 inches for the Roanoke and Shenandoah basins and greater than one inch over the remainder of the state.

The task force has moved to de-escalate a drought warning advisory to a drought watch advisory in the Big Sandy drought evaluation region – which covers the counties of  Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington and Wise and the cities of Bristol and Norton.

The recent rain prevented drought conditions from worsening, per a release from the task force, although severe drought continues in many parts of Virginia, including the Roanoke River drought evaluation region.

The remaining advisory statuses were maintained as follows:

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A drought emergency advisory for:

• Roanoke River: Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Franklin, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Patrick, Pittsylvania, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Danville, Martinsville, Roanoke, and Salem

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Drought warning advisories for: 

• Chowan: Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Prince George, Southampton, Surry, and Sussex counties and the cities of Emporia and Franklin
• Eastern Shore: Accomack and Northampton counties
• Middle James: Albemarle, Amelia, Amherst, Appomattox, Buckingham, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, Nelson, Powhatan, Prince Edward counties and the cities of Charlottesville, Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Lynchburg, Petersburg, and Richmond
• New River: Bland, Carroll, Floyd, Giles, Grayson, Montgomery, Pulaski, and Wythe counties and the cities of Galax, and Radford
• Northern Coastal Plain: Caroline, Essex, Gloucester, King George, King William, King and Queen, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland counties
• Northern Piedmont: Culpeper, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Orange, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, and Stafford counties and the City of Fredericksburg
• Northern Virginia: Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park
• Shenandoah: Augusta, Clarke, Frederick, Page, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Warren counties and the cities of Harrisonburg, Staunton, Waynesboro, and Winchester
• Upper James: Alleghany, Bath, Botetourt, Craig, Highland, and Rockbridge counties and the cities of Buena Vista, Covington, and Lexington
• York-James: Charles City, James City, New Kent, York counties and the cities of Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson, and Williamsburg

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A drought watch advisory for: 

• Southeast Virginia: Isle of Wight County and the cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach