The Cincinnati area is not in a drought, but it could still use rain. Julie Dian-Reed with the National Weather Service says June ended with many places getting significantly less rainfall than usual.
“More so in western Hamilton County, getting into areas of Northern Kentucky, toward Boone County, that’s the areas where we’re kind of getting into the classification of what you would call 'moderate drought,' ” she says. “Like the type of drought you would have maybe every five to 10 years. Not extreme values. We’re not looking at water shortages or that sort of thing, but certainly stress on plants and very dry conditions.”
Scattered thunderstorms are in the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, Independence Day. Dian-Reed says some places are reporting five inches below normal precipitation.
“Ideally, you don’t want extremely heavy rain in a short amount of time, because then the ground is a little bit hard and the rain just runs off.”
She says that's just what's in the forecast.
RELATED: All 24 Cincinnati swimming pools will be open this year
“We do have the potential for storms that maybe wouldn’t move very fast, and also repeated storms over the same area, with the atmosphere really primed, and the potential for the atmosphere to deliver torrential amounts of rain in a short period of time.”
She says it's possible some places will get lots of rain, and others just a couple of miles away will get none.
Dian-Reed says in contrast, northern Ohio and northern Indiana aren't looking too bad, moisture-wise, right now.
“They’ve had a series of storms come through to give them a little bit of relief,” she says. “The areas that have had the least amount of rainfall is definitely focused in the Tri-State area. And then as you go on further into the west, go into southern Indiana, southern Illinois, they’re also pretty dry.”
Dian-Reed says the temperature outlook for the second week of July includes above normal temperatures. She says that will increase evaporation of the water that’s already here.
