Drought Warning Expands To 60 Virginia Counties

VIRGINIA — A drought warning advisory was expanded this week to include 60 Virginia counties and cities, while 32 others remain under a drought watch.

Last month, a drought warning was issued by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for most of Northern Virginia after weeks of heat and little rainfall. Overall, the warning included 12 counties and cities.

On Friday, state officials said continued heat and lack of precipitation has resulted in "rapid intensification of drought throughout the majority of the Commonwealth," prompting the advisory's expansion.

The following counties are now included in the drought warning advisory:

• Northern Virginia: Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Arlington, and Fairfax counties.
• Northern Piedmont: Greene, Madison, Rappahannock, Orange, Culpeper, Louisa, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties.
• Big Sandy: Lee, Wise, Buchanan, Dickenson, Scott, Russell, Tazewell, Washington and Smyth counties.
• Middle James: Albemarle, Amherst, Appomattox, Buckingham, and Nelson counties and the cities of Charlottesville and Lynchburg.
• New River: Grayson, Wythe, Bland, Carroll, Floyd, Pulaski, Giles, and Montgomery counties.
• Roanoke River: Patrick, Franklin, Roanoke, Henry, Bedford, Pittsylvania, Campbell, Halifax, Charlotte and Mecklenburg counties.
• Shenandoah: Augusta, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Frederick, Page, Warren and Clarke counties.
• Upper James: Craig, Alleghany, Bath, Highland, Botetourt and Rockbridge counties.

As of Friday, a drought watch advisory was lifted for these regions:

• Chowan: Lunenburg, Nottoway, Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Sussex, Prince George, Southampton, and Surry counties
• Southeast Virginia: Suffolk, Isle of Wight, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, and Norfolk

According to state officials, stream flows are currently below the 25th percentile of normal values in seven of the 13 drought evaluation regions. Three of these regions — Big Sandy, Roanoke River, and Shenandoah — are currently below the 5th percentile.

Groundwater levels have also shown continued declines within the central and western portion of the Commonwealth with nine regions currently below the 25th percentile. Of these, groundwater levels within the Big Sandy, New River, Upper James, Shenandoah, Northern Virginia and York-James regions are currently below the 5th percentile.

See current drought status on the DEQ website.