Drought — Athens, Ohio

2025-09-01 to 2025-09-30 · Athens, Ohio

Wider weather episode

Fairly dry conditions were observed from late August into September, which resulted in abnormally dry (D0) to moderate drought (D1) conditions across portions of southeast Ohio by the beginning of the month. As a prolonged period of dry weather continued through the second week of the month, D1 spread across most of southeast Ohio while a pocket of severe drought (D2) formed in eastern Washington County. Although most of southeast Ohio saw no change during the third week of the month, a small area of improvement to D0 did occur where locally heavy rain fell in parts of Gallia, Jackson, and Lawrence Counties.

Multiple rounds of rain and thunderstorms brought more substantial precipitation, which resulted in one to two category improvements across most of southeast Ohio by the end of the month. D1 to D2 persisted in Perry, northwest Vinton, and eastern Washington Counties, while improvement to D0 or better occurred in Athens, Gallia, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Morgan, southeast Vinton, and western Washington.

Impacts during the height of the drought included reduced crop yield, dry grasses, low streamflow, and the necessity of supplemental feed for livestock. A midge-transmitted disease called Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) also significantly impacted deer populations across southeast Ohio. Although EHD does occur annually, drought conditions can trigger outbreaks that do not typically subside until after the first frost. By the end of September, at least 6,000 deer fatalities in southeast Ohio were attributed to EHD.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1289867. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.