It rained so hard and long in some areas of Ohio on Friday that parts of southern Ohio saw flash flooding. And then it rained on and off across the state on Saturday, and virtually all day on Sunday in the way that sprinklers water lawns.
So, thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Helene, the drought is over, right?
Not so fast, says Aaron Wilson, Ohio’s state climatologist and an atmospheric scientist and professor at The Ohio State University.
Droughts are measured in five ways, he said, and by most measures, Ohio still has deficits.
“Soil moisture has shown improvement,” Wilson said on Monday, Sept. 30, adding that by the hydrological measure, streams, rivers, ponds and lakes in some areas are recovering. “Having that sit around all weekend allowed a lot of that really beneficial rainfall to occur.”
That soaking means grass is greening up and many Ohioans will face more lawn-mowing this fall than they might have expected a week ago, Wilson said. But the drought is not over by the other measures: meteorological, agricultural, ecological and “socioeconomic,” which is described by the National Integrated Drought Information System as when the “supply and demand of various commodities is affected by drought.”
“We have not erased the precipitation deficits that go back six months to a year, and up to 18 months in some places,” Wilson said.
Much of the state received 2 to 4 inches of rain in the past few days, and Wilson said that might be half of what they need to erase the deficit. And in parts of southern Ohio, he said, “we were pushing some 9-inch deficits.”
And while some of those same areas received heavy rains on Friday, in particular – up to 9 inches in some areas – it fell on parched, hard ground and ran off rather than soaked in.
And that led to flash flooding in some areas, such as Portsmouth, where as much as 7 inches of rain fell during Friday and Saturday and some described the streets as looking like rivers.
Also, despite all the rain, the state fire marshal’s ban on outdoor burning in areas of severe drought extends to the entire state starting Oct. 1. By state law, outdoor burning is banned from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the months of March, April, May, October and November when dry weather and lots of dry grasses and leaves increase the potential for wildfires.
The National Weather Service forecast for Licking County for the rest of this week calls mostly cloudy conditions with some fog on Tuesday morning, then partly cloudy with a 40% chance of showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs will be in the mid 70s. At night, it will be cloudy with a 50% chance of showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms with lows in the mid 50s.
Then on Wednesday, the clouds will part and we’ll see clear skies and sunshine for the rest of the week and into next week.
Dean Kreager, educator for agriculture and natural resources at the Ohio State University Agricultural Extension Service Licking County office in Newark, said the rain revealed some encouraging signs for some farmers:
“It greened up a lot of the pastures and hayfields,” he said. “I doubt that it has had any effect on soybeans and corn. They’re done growing.
“But it might help the moisture content,” he said. “Soybean moisture in our area has been measuring around 8 percent, which is low – between 10 and 13 percent is better” when it comes time to sell the beans.
Given a forecast that calls for rain to end on Tuesday and a return to sunshine and dry conditions on Wednesday, Kreager said the recent rains should not slow the harvest.
He said that in Licking County, farmers who water their livestock with ponds and streams have not seen much improvement.
“In this part of the state, a lot of the water got absorbed,” he said. “I don’t think it will make too much difference yet, and a lot of ground water sources will take time to replenish. South of here, where they received 4-6 inches of rain, it will make a big difference in streams and ponds.”
Kreager, who raises beef cattle in eastern Licking County, said that if nothing else, seeing a green pasture has a positive psychological effect for a farmer.
“To see a green cast over everything, it makes you feel better,” he said. “It lets you know that it didn’t all die and it’ll come back.”
Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.