By: Lydia Crawley, The Parsons Advocate
It may seem like a repeat of 2024 all over again, but drought has once again returned to Tucker County. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) reports that 100% of Tucker County residents are affected by drought at a D2 classification of Severe Drought.
Director of Tucker County Emergency Management Kevin White reports that all water services in the County are stable currently.
“I do know that people with wells and springs are experiencing some issues and some farmers are having a difficult time with water for their livestock,” White said.
The NIDIS data shows no change from last week, but a 100% change from last month, according to the site. However, despite the drought conditions, this August was only the 11th driest on record in the past 131 years, NOAA reports.
At its most simplistic, a drought is defined by NOAA as, “a deficiency of precipitation over an extended period of time (usually a season or more), resulting in a water shortage.” However, NOAA outlines five distinct types of droughts: meteorological, when dry weather patterns dominate an area; hydrological, when low water supply becomes evident; agricultural, when crops become affected; socioeconomic, when supply and demand of commodities becomes affected and ecological, when natural ecosystems are affected.
Currently, the the hydrological drought map indicates that most of the center of West Virginia is suffering from much below to low water supply conditions of the current streamflow at the surface water level.
Another indicator of drought conditions in the area comes from NASA Grace. Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center generate groundwater and soil moisture drought indicator data each week based on terrestrial water storage observations from GRACE-FO satellite date other observations using a model of land surface water and energy processes. Currently, most of Central West Virginia is in the 30th percentile on the scale. The lower the number, the higher the drought indicator.
There is a chance for rain starting next week, however, it does not appear that it will be of much help in the long run. NOAA reports chances of rain from Monday, mostly in the 40 and 50 percentile range, with scattering chances of higher amounts from a stray Thunderstorm or so throughout the week.
“There is a chance of rain starting tomorrow into next week, but at the moment it doesn’t look as if its of much relief,” White said.
Currently, there are no emergency drought declarations for Tucker County.
