Drought deepens across Virginia and North Carolina despite summer rain
The gist
About 46% of the National Weather Service's Wakefield forecast area is in some level of drought.
Meteorologists say over 12 inches of rain is needed to begin recovering.
How it unfolded
- Sep 2025Signs of regional dryness first began appearing in the Tidewater region.
- Dec 2025Norfolk reached the U.S. Drought Monitor's D0 classification, meaning abnormally dry conditions.
- May 2026Drought conditions reached their peak severity.
Key terms
- National Weather Service
- A U.S. federal agency that provides weather forecasts, warnings, and other weather information to the public.
- U.S. Drought Monitor
- A weekly map and set of measures produced by a federal-academic partnership to assess drought conditions across the United States.
- conservation pool
- The normal water storage level a reservoir maintains for water supply and other uses, below its maximum capacity.
Source: Wikipedia