DAYTON — Hello, everyone! Meteorologist Nick Dunn here to give an update on the drought conditions in the Miami Valley. We have not talked about it for a bit, but we still are navigating some intense drought conditions in the region.
Those from northern Randolph County through most of Mercer County and into western Auglaize County are still in Severe to Extreme Drought conditions. You may be asking yourself how that can be possible despite recent snowfall in the Miami Valley.
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The only official climate site in the Miami Valley is Dayton, but this will still put things into perspective for those in places like Celina, Winchester, and Wapakoneta. In Dayton, we have seen 8.3″ of snow since November 1st. But, when that gets converted to liquid it only amounts of 0.85″ in total. That is not a ton considering that long term deficits are still several inches below normal over the past 120 days.
The snow has not been particularly “wet” with a high water content. In fact, Climatologist Aaron Wilson tells me the snow has had a “relatively light snow to water equivalent.” When snow has a higher water content that added moisture can soak into the ground and help replenish soils that have been parched for several months.
When we add in the rainfall since that same time period with the snow converted to liquid, Dayton has picked up 1.96 inches of total precipitation. That is 1.68 inches below normal. So, even taking that deficit we can see how places that have even larger deficits over a longer period are not making any improvements on drought conditions.
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In conclusion, while the snow has been helpful as it provides some moisture, we are still running behind overall on precipitation over a longer period of time that makes drought improvement a longer process. Wilson also told me recently that we will likely finish the year with drought conditions in our area. He reminded me how southeast Ohio carried drought from 2024 into 2025 for several months.
We have rain on the way for Wednesday here in the Miami Valley. However, totals remain light. While we are seeing more frequent precipitation events of rain or snow, we just need to get a trend of running above normal to see sustained improvements! Thankfully, we are in what Wilson calls a “soil moisture recharge season” where we have chances for rain and snow, along with cooler temperatures, to help replenish soil moisture before Spring.
