Exceptional Drought, D4, was introduced in West Virginia for the first time since the inception of the U.S. Drought Monitor in 2000. Rainfall deficits for the past 90 days (May 30 – August 27) ranged from 5.50 inches to just over 6 inches below normal for Beckley, Charleston, Elkins, and Huntington. The same period ranked among the 11 driest and 14 hottest for all four sites.
http://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/west-virginia-facing-worst-drought-least-two-decades
by Strict-System-9528
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“The combination of unusually hot, dry weather allowed drought conditions to take hold in June and quickly intensify. During one week in June, drought coverage increased 10-fold. In July, extreme drought was present in the state for the first time in over a decade. By mid-August, 99% of the state was in drought.
The agriculture industry, in particular, has suffered. For the first time since at least 2002 (prior records exist but are categorized differently), all of West Virginia has topsoil moisture in the very short-short categories, based USDA crop reports for the week ending August 25. For the same week, pasture and rangeland conditions were the state’s worst since at least 2002. USDA data shows that pasture conditions deteriorated earlier in the season this year than during other recent notable drought years.”