Rain earlier this week has helped our drought situation in Ohio.

Last week, 98% of Ohio was at least abnormally dry, with 62% in a moderate drought.

Just the week before at the end of May, 26% of the state was drought-free. 

With a nearly three-week stretch of virtually no rain in Ohio, grass became crunchy and brown at a time of year that is typically fairly wet. 

Well, in just the last few days, we've seen improvements. Sunday afternoon, we saw a decent amount of rain, bringing at least an inch to much of the state.

Here's what our three major cities officially saw then:

• Cincinnati: 1.33"
• Columbus: 0.40"
• Cleveland: 1.78"

And we weren't done yet. 

Monday saw more rain, then more Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Ultimately, how much relief have we seen? According to this week's Drought Monitor, depends on where you're looking.

Northeastern Ohio in particular has improved, which makes sense because that is generally where we've seen the highest rain amounts. Additionally, things have improved in the western half of the state. 

That's offset by more dry conditions in southeast Ohio, which has seen more moderate drought area than last week.

An important note: Drought Monitor updates are issued on Thursdays, but are based on data before 8 a.m. each Tuesday. So, some of the rain we've seen this week isn't accounted for in the most recent map.  

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