Drought — Randolph, Indiana

2025-10-01 to 2025-10-31 · Randolph, Indiana

Event narrative

Rainfall totals of mainly 2.00 to 2.75 inches through September and nearly all of October allowed D2 conditions to persist over the north-northwestern third of Randolph County, with D2 expanding southeastward to include Winchester on October 28th, while intensifying to D3 over far northwestern areas. Subsequent dry conditions maintained D2 and D3 into December 2025.

Wider weather episode

Overall dry conditions that had resulted in widespread Severe Drought (D2) by late September 2025 from most of Carroll County to portions of Randolph County and points east-northeast, continued throughout October, leading to intensification and/or expansion of drought over northern to northeastern central Indiana each week through October 28th. On October 7th, Severe Drought (D2) expanded slightly over Carroll County, while intensifying to Extreme Drought (D3) in parts of Carroll and Howard Counties. On October 14th, D3 expanded into most of Howard County and a sliver of Tipton County. On October 21st, D2 expanded slightly southwest through Clinton and Tipton Counties. A more pronounced intensification followed on October 28th when D3 began in Muncie and points north and east into Randolph County, as D2 expanded slightly southward to include the rest of Delaware County, and more of Madison and Randolph Counties. Overall dry conditions maintained these areas of D2 and D3 across northern central Indiana into December 2025.

Much smaller and more-transient areas of D2 extended from east-central Illinois into west-central Indiana: overall dry conditions had also resulted in D2 by late September over portions of Vermillion and Parke Counties, with this area maintained through October 21st; a new and nearly mutually-exclusive area of D2 began over small parts of Vermillion and Vigo Counties on October 28th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1295740. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.