Beckley, much of southern WV on pace for driest June ever

GREENBRIER COUNTY, WV (WVNS) – The latest Drought Monitor issued by the US Department of Agriculture, NOAA and the National Drought Mitigation Center has placed portions of our region in a moderate drought.

The U.S. Drought Monitor identifies areas in drought and labels them by intensity. The label is as follows:

• D0 – Abormally Dry (Not an official drought): Short-term dryness slows planting, such as grass, crops and pastures.
• D1 – Moderate Drought : Some damage to crops and pastures. Streams, reservoirs or wells run low with some water shortages.
• D2 – Severe Drought : Crop or pasture losses likely with common water shortages.
• D3 – Extreme Drought : Major crop or pasture losses and widespread water shortages or restrictions.
• D4 – Exceptional Drought : Exceptional and widespread crop and pasture losses. Shortages of water in reservoirs, streams and wells creating water emergencies.

With the extremely dry conditions our region has faced over the last several weeks dating back to around Memorial Day, most of our region is now labeled D0 – Abnormally Dry. However, a few spots in our region are now labeled as D1 – Moderate Drought: eastern Pocahontas, northeastern Greenbrier and extreme eastern Giles counties.

Some areas in our region have seen as little as ten percent of what we usually see in terms of average rainfall for the month of June so far. Beckley, which is not faring as bad as some parts of our region, is currently on pace to have the driest June month on record, with less than an 0.75″ of rain as of June 21st, which is over a half inch lower than the all-time record set in 1999. The current record low list is shown below:

June 2024 Rainfall Totals (As of June 21st)

• Beckley, WV: 0.74″ (-2.19″)
• Bluefield, WV: 1.34″ (-1.65″)

Rainfall totals over the last week have been slim to none. Outside of a few pop-up showers, where Richlands and Hinton were beneficiaries, most areas have seen either nothing or a trace (less than 0.01″) of rain in the last week.

Our only two shots of appreciable rainfall for the remainder of the month arrives Sunday evening and then again on Wednesday, though the latter of these two looks very minor at this point overall.

However, a front will cross the region overnight Sunday into Monday morning, and some localized heavy rainfall will be possible. Not everyone will see heavy rain – some of us will stay completely dry – but those that do will certainly be welcomed by Mother Nature’s rain drops.

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