The second half of September at last doused Northern Virginia in enough rain to ease the drought that the region has faced for months.
The drought warning advisory in place for Fairfax County and the rest of Northern Virginia since January has de-escalated to a drought watch, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced last Friday (Oct. 2).
The change, which also extended to the state’s Northern Piedmont and Shenandoah regions, was recommended by DEQ’s Drought Monitoring Task Force in response to “sustained precipitation over several weeks” and forecasts predicting near- or above-normal rain levels across much of the state over the next week.
“Sustained rain has prevented drought conditions from worsening,” DEQ said in a press release. “However, drought continues in many parts of Virginia, especially in the Roanoke River drought evaluation region which has received less rainfall than other areas of the Commonwealth.”
According to the task force’s most recent report issued on Sept. 29, the northern and southwestern regions of Virginia saw 1 to 3 inches of rain in the preceding seven days, and in “large portions” of those areas, precipitation reached 125% to 150% of their normal levels over the past 60- and 90-day periods.
In Northern Virginia, precipitation, reservoir and streamflow levels have returned to “normal,” but the region is still on emergency status when it comes to groundwater levels due largely to one well in southern Prince William County that’s nearly empty, the U.S. Geological Survey reported in a presentation to the task force.
A drought watch issued in early June by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) remains in effect for the entire D.C. region, affecting approximately 6 million residents. Officials have been encouraging residents to voluntarily reduce their water use to ensure an adequate supply in the Potomac River.
Northern Virginia’s reliance on the Potomac River, which also serves residents of D.C. and Maryland, led the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to ask Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger to exempt the region from any emergency declarations. The local utility Fairfax Water is also participating in a regional study focused on identifying potential backup sources of drinking water.
At the moment, only the Roanoke River region in southern Virginia is under an emergency drought advisory, according to DEQ. Spanberger declared a state of emergency for that region last month to help farmers feed their livestock in the wake of a hay shortfall.
This past weekend brought additional relief to Fairfax County, with 0.4 inches of rain recorded at Dulles International Airport in October through yesterday (Sunday), per National Weather Service data. Since Sept. 1, Dulles has observed 4.2 inches of precipitation.
However, Virginia ended the past water year — which ran from Oct. 1, 2025 to Sept. 30, 2026 — with an average precipitation deficit of 9.7 inches, DEQ said.
“The National Weather Service predicts that the strong El Nino weather pattern will bring higher-than-normal rainfall to Virginia this fall and winter,” the department said, noting that its Drought Monitoring Task Force is scheduled to meet again tomorrow (Oct. 6).
