ASHLAND — Parts of Ashland and Richland counties have entered into “abnormally dry” drought status and the southeastern corner of Knox County has entered into “severe drought” status.
The entire state of Ohio is experiencing some level of drought as of Sept. 18. Most of the state falls under “moderate drought” status — the second tier of intensity.
The drought began in the middle of August and has steadily spread across Ohio since.
For Ashland and Richland counties, the drought started to take hold on Sept. 9. Knox County’s drought started during the last week of August.
The majority of Ashland and Richland counties are in the lowest intensity level, which is categorized as abnormally dry. And most of Knox County is in the moderate drought level.
- Ashland County: Roughly 57% of the county falls under abnormally dry conditions and the other roughly 43% falls under moderate drought conditions.
- Knox County: Roughly 90% of the county falls under moderate drought conditions and the other roughly 10% falls under severe drought conditions.
- Richland County: Roughly 64% of the county falls under abnormally dry conditions and the other roughly 36% falls under moderate drought conditions.
“Rapidly worsening impacts, persistent subnormal rainfall, and increasingly poor 30 to 90-day SPI [standardized precipitation index] values warranted widespread degradations across the remainder of the Great Lakes region and the Ohio Valley,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s website.
“Moderate to severe (D1 to D2) drought expanded to cover much of southern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, with a small area of extreme drought (D3) developing in far eastern Ohio.”
The drought summary also said that the Ohio valley has a lighter rainfall forecast compared to other midwestern states. The lack of rain is expected to couple with warmer temperatures, which may exacerbate drought conditions.
Sam Foley, Richland Soil and Water District technician, said this week’s forecast brings much needed rain, but it will not recede drought conditions.
“With as dry as it’s been a quick, heavy rain could do more harm than good. As the ground becomes excessively dry, it hardens and makes it more difficult for rain to immediately infiltrate into the ground, potentially leading to increased runoff. Slow, steady and consistent rain would be ideal at this point,” Foley said.
“A very wet spring led to an uptick in phone calls with drainage complaints and concerns. Since the drought, we’ve seen less of those and more phone calls concerned about low pond levels, difficulties germinating grass seed and more recently, we’ve seen farmers already harvesting their row crops,” Foley said.
Foley also mentioned many farmers have started harvesting their beans in the last week, which is sooner than predicted.
Lauren Smith, owner and operator of Honey Haven Farm in Ashland County, said the drought has taken a slight toll on her sweet corn crops. The ears of the corn grew, but the kernels did not fill properly.
Smith said that was luckily only on a quarter of an acre plot. Smith said the pumpkins did well with the rain earlier in the summer, but now weeds have overtaken some of the pumpkin patches because they are more drought resistant.
How does this year compare to the 2024 summer drought?
Overall, Smith said the impact has not been as bad as it was from the drought last summer.
This time last year, 13% of the state was under exceptional drought status — the most severe level. The U.S. Drought Monitor categorized the 2024 summer drought as the most intense drought in Ohio in 25 years.
Although the drought impacted southeastern Ohio the most, all of Knox County and most of Richland County were under severe drought conditions. And most of Ashland County fell under moderate drought conditions.
But Jeff Dugan, owner and operator of Jeff and Amanda Dugan Family Farm, said “I believe it’s dryer this year than it was last year.”
Dugan’s 120-acre farm is located in Jackson Township, Knox County, which is under severe drought status.
Dugan raises beef cattle, and he has been feeding them hay since the first of August, which he said “is not normal.”
Normally his cattle would graze on the pasture grass, but because it’s so dry, Dugan has had to start feeding them hay earlier than normal.
Jug Run flows through his property, and Dugan said the creek is running extremely low, with some parts of the creek not running at all. If Jug Run drys up, Dugan will have to get water bins and start hauling water.
He said his property has a steady well, so the farm will be okay if he has to resort to using well water.
Fall burning regulations do not begin until Oct. 1, but the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry and the Ohio State Fire Marshal urge Ohioans to take precautions now in response to the dry conditions across the state.
The U.S. Drought Monitor will continue to update the map of drought conditions every week.