Recent rainfall has led the Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force to recommended de-escalating drought warning advisories in 15 counties and 10 cities in the New River, Middle James, and York-James drought evaluation regions.
For the rest of us still under a drought warning, the good news is, the recent rain has prevented drought conditions from worsening, although severe drought continues in many parts of Virginia, including the Roanoke River drought evaluation region.
The seven-day forecast calls for near to below-normal totals of 0.25 to 0.75 inches in a broad central portion of the state, and above-normal totals up to 1.5 inches in localized southeastern and southwestern areas of the state.
Additional information on the current drought status is available on the DEQ drought webpage and Drought Dashboard, which includes interactive data on stream gages, groundwater wells, soil moisture, and precipitation.
The drought warning advisory was de-escalated to a drought watch advisory for:
- New River: Bland County, Carroll County, Floyd County, Giles County, Grayson County, Montgomery County, Pulaski County and Wythe County and the cities of Galax and Radford
- York-James: Charles City County, James City County, New Kent County and York County and the cities of Hampton, Newport News, Poquoson and Williamsburg
- Middle James*: Chesterfield County, Hanover County and Henrico County and the cities of Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Petersburg and Richmond
Drought emergency:
- Roanoke River: Bedford County, Campbell County, Charlotte County, Franklin County, Halifax County, Henry County, Mecklenburg County, Patrick County, Pittsylvania County and Roanoke County and the cities of Danville, Martinsville, Roanoke and Salem
Drought warning advisories:
- Chowan: Brunswick County, Dinwiddie County, Greensville County, Lunenburg County, Nottoway County, Prince George County , Southampton County, Surry County and Sussex County and the cities of Emporia and Franklin
- Eastern Shore: Accomack County and Northampton County
- Middle James*: Albemarle County, Amelia County, Amherst County, Appomattox County, Buckingham County, Cumberland County, Fluvanna County, Goochland County, Nelson County, Powhatan County, Prince Edward County and the cities of Charlottesville and Lynchburg
- Northern Coastal Plain: Caroline County, Essex County, Gloucester County, King George County, King William County, King and Queen County, Lancaster County, Mathews County, Middlesex County, Northumberland County, Richmond County and Westmoreland County
- Northern Piedmont: Culpeper County, Greene County, Louisa County, Madison County, Orange County, Rappahannock County, Spotsylvania and Stafford County and the City of Fredericksburg
- Northern Virginia: Arlington County, Fairfax County, Fauquier County, Loudoun County and Prince William County and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park
- Shenandoah: Augusta County, Clarke County, Frederick County, Page County, Rockingham County, Shenandoah County and Warren County and the cities of Harrisonburg, Staunton, Waynesboro and Winchester
- Upper James: Alleghany County, Bath County, Botetourt County, Craig County, Highland County and Rockbridge County and the cities of Buena Vista, Covington and Lexington
Drought watch advisories for:
- Big Sandy: Buchanan County, Dickenson County, Lee County, Russell County, Scott County, Smyth County, Tazewell County, Washington County and Wise County and the cities of Bristol and Norton
- Southeast Virginia: Isle of Wight County and the cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach
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Chris Graham
