Drought in Amherst, Virginia

Severe Drought conditions were declared for the western half of Amherst County in October after another month of precipitation that was less than 30 percent of normal. The Cooperative Weather Observer at the Pedlar Reservoir Dam (PDLV2) measured 1.03 inches of rainfall for the month, about 29 percent of the normal amount of 3.50 inches. Farther east, the CoCoRaHS observer at Amherst 1.7 SW (VA-AH-4) observed a rainfall total of 1.05 inches for the month. NASA SPoRT LIS data estimated that average soil moisture in the top 100 cm of soil between the 5th and the 20th percentiles by the middle of the month. Streamflows for several rivers including the Pedlar River and the James River were below the 10th percentiles by the end of the month per the USGS WaterWatch website. There were no reported impacts to agriculture and livestock given the late time of the year.

Severe Drought conditions were introduced across the southern Shenandoah Valley after having been removed shortly after the rainfall from Tropical Storm Ophelia. The lack of rainfall contributed to a gradual decrease in streamflows, groundwater and soil moisture in this region. Impacts on remaining crop harvest were variable depending on crop and location, with one notable impact being a lack of growth of pasture grasses, forcing ranchers to begin feeding hay to livestock more and/or earlier than they normally might. Wildland fire activity increased given the combination of dry fuels and the seasonal loss of leaf cover/canopy which allowed surface fuels to dry out more readily.