Regional Drought Expected to Continue Through End of Year

The drought in western Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee will continue through the end of the year. That’s the latest outlook from the National Weather Service’s Jim Noel.

He said rainfall in the coming months will lessen the drought’s impact. But the region remains between nine and 12 inches below normal.

“The main message here is it takes a while to get into drought, and it takes a while to get out. You can get short term rainfall that’ll green up grasses, bring out the weeds, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that just like that all the hydrologic system including the river systems and the reservoirs recharge in a matter of days,” he said.

Noel said El Niño conditions may develop this winter, bringing another round of extreme dry weather late in the year. So far, 2012 is Kentucky’s seventh driest year on record.