Southern Kentucky Drought Situation Improves

In the latest update from the U.S. drought monitor, conditions continue to improve across southern Kentucky with the help of a very wet August. With yesterday’s rainfall, Bowling Green has seen 7.28″ of rain during the month which makes this month the seventh wettest August on record. We are just over two inches shy of the all time record set in 1926, but with nine days left in the month we could see our monthly total continue to increase.

August

1)   9.34”     1926

2)  8.73”     1923

3)  8.36”     2005

4)  7.71”      1971

5)  7.46”     1942

6)  7.34”     1901

7)  7.28″    2014

With this beneficial rainfall, the area of moderate drought continues to shrink. In this morning’s update from the U.S. Drought Monitor, Warren and Butler counties are no longer in a moderate drought. Besides portions of eastern Warren county which have been removed from the drought area, the two counties are currently considered abnormally dry.

The area of moderate drought coverage has shrank to 4.86% which is a 7.43% decrease from last week’s coverage of 12.29%. Additionally, 31.6% of the state is still considered at least abnormally dry which is a 5.96% decrease from last week’s coverage of 37.56%.

We will still need a few more rain events in order to wipe the drought out completely. Unfortunately, an upper level ridge will be positioned over the eastern U.S. for much of the next week, and we will be relatively dry. Check out the latest 7-day precipitation forecast from the WPC showing our area only receiving around .25″ of rainfall during the next week.

#BringOnTheRain