Drought Warning Issued For 12 VA Counties After Hot, Rainless Days

VIRGINIA — A drought warning has been issued for most of Northern Virginia after weeks of heat and little rainfall, the state Department of Environmental Quality said Monday.

In a statement, state officials said the entire state was now under a drought watch while several counties in Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah region were under a drought warning.

The following counties were included in the drought warning:

• Fauquier
• Loudoun
• Prince William
• Arlington
• Fairfax
• Augusta
• Rockingham
• Shenandoah
• Frederick
• Page
• Warren
• Clarke counties

"Precipitation deficits in combination with increased temperatures have resulted in rapid intensification of drought throughout the majority of the Commonwealth with substantial below-normal observations noted within the Northern Virginia and Shenandoah drought evaluation regions," the Department of Environmental Quality said in a statement.

According to state officials, stream flows throughout the Commonwealth are currently at or below the 25th percentile of normal values. Groundwater levels have also shown continued declines in the northern, central, and eastern portions of the state, officials said.

Storage at major water supply reservoirs throughout Virginia remains within normal ranges at this time, officials said.

Brendon Rubin-Oster, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service, told WTOP that recent heat waves and cloudless days of sunshine have dried out soil throughout the state.

“In the recent weeks, we’ve definitely not seen as much rain as we’d like to see,” Rubin-Oster told WTOP. "That sun’s pounding down on the ground soils — that definitely dries things out even more readily."

See the current drought status on the Department of Environmental Quality website.