The Commonwealth already had to deal with one drought this year in the first half of the summer.

Now, abnormally dry conditions have returned.

What You Need To Know

  • Not much rain has fallen since mid-September

  • Drought conditions are creeping back into Kentucky

  • We expect below normal rainfall through October

Meteorological fall began on Sept. 1, and the season started wet with decent soaking rain events across Kentucky. However, in the second half of September into the first few days of October, it has been a different story.

Louisville has only received 0.16 inches of rain since Sept. 12. In Lexington, just 0.13 inches fell since Sept. 13.

The situation is even worse in far western Kentucky. Paducah, still dealing with lingering drought from the summer, has received only 0.02 inches since Sept. 5.

Most of Kentucky is in a rainfall deficit for meteorological fall, with far western Kentucky having only seen less than 25% of the normal rainfall since Sept. 1.

Moderate drought has been persistent in western Kentucky because of the extremely dry conditions there. Other areas in the state have seen abnormally dry conditions emerge in the Drought Monitor.

Rainfall outlooks for the next several weeks call for more below normal precipitation. This will likely cause the drought conditions to expand.

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