Big improvement in Virginia drought as extreme category drops to 4% Thursday

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia's drought continues to show meaningful improvement, with extreme drought dropping to its lowest level in months — and the latest data likely understates how much conditions have actually improved.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor, released Thursday and based on conditions through 8 a.m. Tuesday, shows 22% of the state is in the very dry category, 42% is in moderate drought, 21% is in severe drought, and 4% is in extreme drought — down from 8% extreme last week. Severe and moderate drought held steady, while the very dry category increased by 4 percentage points.

WTVR via U.S. Drought Monitor

Extreme drought is now concentrated in two isolated pockets — one near Farmville south of the James River, and one near Danville.

Importantly, this week's drought monitor data ends at 8 a.m. Tuesday and does not capture the heavy rainfall that fell later that day. Actual current conditions across parts of the state are likely better than what the map reflects.

Precipitation over the past 30 days was above normal for large portions of central, eastern, northern, and southwest Virginia, with totals ranging from 6 to 10 inches, according to a Thursday update from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. However, portions of south-central and western areas of the state received below-normal totals of between 2 to 4 inches over the same period.

The seven-day forecast calls for near to below-normal rainfall totals of 0.25 to 0.75 inches across a broad central portion of the state, with above-normal totals up to 1.5 inches in localized southeastern and southwestern areas.

Virginia Department of Environmental Quality

Weather News

MAPS: A week-by-week look at tracking Virginia's drought

Advisory changes across the state

The Virginia Drought Monitoring Task Force recommended de-escalating drought warnings to drought watch advisories in 15 counties and 10 cities across three drought evaluation regions.

For Central Virginia viewers, parts of the Middle James region saw improvement. Chesterfield, Hanover, and Henrico counties and the cities of Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Petersburg, and Richmond were downgraded from drought warning to drought watch status. However, the rest of the Middle James region — including Goochland, Powhatan, Albemarle, Amelia, Amherst, Appomattox, Buckingham, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Nelson, and Prince Edward counties and the cities of Charlottesville and Lynchburg — remains under a drought warning.

The New River and York-James regions were also downgraded from warning to watch status.

The Northern Piedmont region — including Louisa, Orange, Culpeper, Greene, Madison, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, and Stafford counties and the City of Fredericksburg — and the Northern Coastal Plain region, covering Caroline County and surrounding areas, remain under drought warnings.

Richmond and five surrounding counties also lifted their voluntary water conservation advisory Tuesday, based on James River flows being above conservation triggers. Officials say water conservation should remain an everyday practice even with the advisory lifted.

WATCH: Virginia governor pushes back on claims that data centers are worsening Virginia's drought

Roanoke region still in emergency

The Roanoke region — which includes Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Franklin, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Patrick, Pittsylvania, and Roanoke counties, and the cities of Danville, Martinsville, Roanoke, and Salem — remains under a drought emergency, the most severe advisory level.

Streamflow showed marked improvement over the past seven days in response to recent heavy rains in some areas, but small tributary watersheds on the upper portions of the James, Shenandoah, and Roanoke River basins remain much below normal. Monitoring wells in Clarke, Patrick, Prince William, and Bedford counties are at or near record low water levels.

Smith Mountain Lake and John Kerr Reservoir remain much below normal for this time of year despite recent rainfall.

Governor Abigail Spanberger has encouraged all Virginians to continue conserving water as the drought persists in parts of the state.

NEWS CONFERENCE: Roanoke region reaches drought emergency as Virginia drought deepens

Agricultural outlook

Agricultural producers reported improvements in crop conditions throughout most of the state, but anticipate smaller crop yields, reduced size of fruits and vegetables, and possible negative impacts to orchard production in future years. Producers in Rockingham County reported persistent dry conditions.

The Drought Monitoring Task Force, which has been meeting weekly given the severity of conditions, will meet again on Aug. 4.The Drought Monitoring Task Force will meet again on Aug. 12.

What residents can do

Officials say water conservation should remain an everyday practice at home and at work, even as conditions improve. Suggested steps include:

• Shorten showers
• Turn off faucets while brushing teeth or shaving
• Run full loads of dishes and laundry
• Disable automatic lawn sprinklers
• Water lawns less frequently, only between dusk and dawn
• Wash cars less often
• If on a private well with low or no flow pressure, contact your local health department