DAYTON — Hello, everyone! Weather Specialist Nick Dunn here on a dry, but windy, start to our Friday! It seems like that rain from yesterday morning is a distant memory by now. We have been talking for a couple weeks about just how dry it is!
The Miami Valley as of the newest drought update is now completely in Abnormally Dry territory. While it is not officially a drought, it is one step away from an official designation. I do have concerns that we will slip into the Moderate Drought category very soon as our deficit continues to grow due to dry conditions.
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I did some digging and found Dayton is not the driest in the state of Ohio or around the region. Check out spots like Columbus, Athens, and New Philadelphia! Since August 1st, those places are running more than 3 inches below normal. Here in Dayton, we are in the middle of the 14th driest August 1st-September 4th on record...not the best of trends!
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The current extended outlook from the Climate Prediction Center as we look just beyond the seven day forecast shows a continued trend of having below normal precipitation. What does this indicate? September has a daily average rainfall of around 0.10″ of rain when we take the monthly average (3.31″) and divide it over each day.
So, in the extended outlook, odds would favor the total precipitation between September 11th and 15th, a 5-day observation period, have higher odds of being below normal.
Let’s hope we reverse this trend soon to avoid further degradation in the drought conditions around the region!