Drought in Southeast Randolph, West Virginia

Across the bulk of West Virginia, severe (D2) to exceptional (D4) drought conditions carried over from August into the beginning of September. For most of the area, little rainfall occurred during the first three weeks of the month which allowed the drought to progressively worsen.

At the commencement of the month, D4 had already set in to portions of Jackson, Mason, Roane, Wirt, and Wood Counties. A continued lack of rain over the next couple of weeks resulted in a south and eastward expansion of D4 into Putnam, Cabell, Wayne, Kanawha, Boone, Clay, Pleasants, Braxton, Nicholas, and Webster Counties. However, Wood County saw a slight improvement to D3 early in the month thanks to a couple of thunderstorms, which dropped between 2.5 to 3.5 inches of rain. Outside of the D4 area, extreme drought (D3) eventually expanded across about seventy-five percent of the state, including nearly all of western, central, southern, and northern West Virginia.

Impacts reported during the height of the drought included below normal stream flows, dry wells, some fish kills, stunted crop growth, livestock sales due to a lack of hay, water hauling, and an increase in fire danger.

Late in the month, the remnants of Hurricane Helene finally brought several inches of rain across parts of southeast West Virginia, while lesser rainfall amounts occurred in northern West Virginia. This desperately needed rain finally allowed for one to two category improvements across the southern and eastern portions of the state, along with some improvements along the Ohio River. However, D3 to D4 conditions persisted in parts of central and northern West Virginia into October.