Drought conditions continue to worsen in Ohio, erasing earlier improvements

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Dry and drought conditions continue to slowly spread through Ohio, eroding all the progress that was made in October.

Only four counties in Ohio are still in normal conditions, all of which are in Greater Cleveland, one of the few areas in the state to go unchanged, according to new weekly data released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Meanwhile, moderate to extreme drought conditions spread elsewhere in Ohio.

Altogether, 89% of Ohio is under drought or dry conditions, an increase from last week’s 87%. An estimated 5.7 million Ohioans are in affected areas.

Here’s a closer look at where things stand.

Northern Ohio

The southwestern corners of both Lorain and Medina counties are still in a moderate drought, while moderate drought continues to slowly spread up to the counties bordering Greater Cleveland.

When an area enters moderate drought, small brush fires can occur, water restrictions may be requested, hay and fruit yield can be low and fewer mosquitos are observed than usual. For abnormally dry areas, crop growth suffers and water levels decline.

Abnormal dryness still impacts the perimeter of two other counties in Greater Cleveland – Ashtabula and Portage counties. However, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake and Summit counties are still in completely normal conditions, the only counties in Ohio to be so.

Severe drought conditions have continued to spread further east and south in Northwest Ohio, with only Hardin County being largely untouched and only in a moderate drought. The spread of severe drought in the Northwest continues to be the most severe shift in drought conditions in the state.

Under severe drought, creeks dry up, crops suffer, soil is dry and cracked, trees lose their leaves and chances of fires increase.

Southern Ohio

Exceptional drought conditions, the highest classification of drought, remain unmoved in Ohio. For the fifth week in a row, just under 8% of the state, or parts of 16 counties in southern Ohio, are still affected.

The U.S. Drought Monitor does not have historical instances to determine what usually happens in an exceptional drought because it is the first occurrence in Ohio in the 21st century.

But extreme drought, the second-highest drought classification, has spread for the first time in four weeks, now affecting 12.4% of the state, newly touching parts of Holmes, Stark and Wayne counties. This is up from 11.8% of counties the week before.

Once areas enter extreme drought, lawns go dormant, crop yields are minimal, soybeans dry up and supplemental hay for livestock becomes necessary.

Severe drought conditions also worsened as severe drought in Central Ohio joins the severe drought in Northwestern Ohio, now affecting 38% of the state, up from 32.3% last week.

Drought also spread in the lower counties, with larger percentages of Darke, Gallia, Lawrence and Miami counties now under moderate drought. Along with the northwestern counties,

Moderate drought remained the same in the southern counties. Along with the rest of Ohio, 13.55% is affected by moderate drought.

The Midwest and the United States

While drought is worsening in Ohio again, other parts of the Midwest are receiving some relief.

Rain arrived in many areas of the Midwest, with over 800% of normal rain recorded in much of southern Missouri, central Iowa and Wisconsin. Additionally, a wide swath of southern Missouri into northern Arkansas reported at least 10 inches of rain for the current Drought Monitor period.

The rains brought improvements to drought in most of Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin. Drought eased in central Minnesota and southern Missouri.

Still, moderate drought expanded slightly in western Minnesota and eastern Indiana. Abnormally dry conditions spread through the rest of Kentucky while moderate drought crept into southern portions of the state.

Only Ohio is experiencing exceptional drought conditions out of the Midwestern states. Along with bordering West Virginia, this area is one of three in the country affected by exceptional drought, the others being parts of Montana and Texas.

What were the drought conditions a month ago?

A month ago, Ohio’s historic exceptional drought conditions began to wane, with Northeast Ohio seeing some return to normalcy, as well as parts of Southern Ohio. Additionally, extreme and exceptional drought finally stopped breaking records set during previous weeks, showing some mild improvements and relief.

Zachary Smith is the data reporter for cleveland.com. You can reach him at [email protected].