WOAY-TV (Oak Hill, WV): An upcoming heat wave and very little rain will work in tandem to rapidly dry the soil and lead to drought development in the Midwest and East.
The well-advertised heat wave will get underway later this week. Under a developing high pressure, dry, very hot weather is going to dry out the topsoil very quickly. None of the East is in any sort of agricultural drought right now. We’ve had sufficient amount of rain, but that will change.
Drought will quickly develop over the next two weeks. Hence, the term “flash” is used to describe the quick onset of drought because of a combination of very high temperatures and dry weather.
Two indices that we monitor for flash drought development include the Evaporative Demand Drought Index basically, which currently indicates we are evaporating moisture at the surface faster than taking it in. The Evaporative Stress Index is in a negative anomaly suggesting drought development is feasible in the right conditions (dry, hot weather).
We will have hot temperatures this weekend into the next week and a sustained pattern with little cloud cover and little rainfall. So, flash drought factors are lining up across much of the Midwest into the Mid-Atlantic and Carolinas.
Fruit trees and crops will quickly become moisture depleted over the next two weeks. Farmers should be prepared to water even more frequently and you will have to water the garden more frequently. In order to get the most out of watering the garden, do it early in the morning and late in the afternoon or in the evening.
