Drought in Mercer, West Virginia

Extreme Drought conditions improved to Severe Drought conditions in Mercer county by late June after repeated rounds of rainfall during the month of June. The previous several months of March, April, and May recorded precipitation totals of 10.00-15.00 inches, which ended up being 75 to 90 percent of normal for that period. These dry conditions combined with the dry fall conditions leading up to below average rainfall during the winter months, contributed to a decrease in groundwater and soil moisture in this region, where observed values for each had fallen to at or below the 10th percentile for groundwater, and 30th to 70th percentile for soil moisture in the first 0-100 cm based off the NASA SPoRT LIS data estimated on the 30th of June. Streamflows similarly decreased across the area. This included the Bluestone River, which was observed to be below the 25th to 75th percentile per the USGS WaterWatch website and, in some cases, were near record-low flows.

Drought Conditions improved from severe drought to moderate drought as several rainfall events resulted in 30 day percent-of-normal rainfall averaging in the 100th to 200th percentile across much of SE West Virginia. Rainfall totals over the past 30 days ranged from 5.0 to 8.0 inches. The rainfall resulted in widespread short-term improvements in soil moisture and stream flows, bringing most back to near normal levels after being categorized as below normal to much below normal in the months prior. Both Mercer and Monroe counties continued to remain in Severe drought as portions of those counties received rainfall totals closer to 3-4 inches over the 30 day period.