Drought conditions lingering into winter

By Matt Reese

Since late summer, the implications of the devastating drought of 2024 have loomed large for many in Ohio agriculture.

“We still do have drought conditions out there across portions of the state — both abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions. It is primarily dry in northwest Ohio and southeast Ohio where they have not had as much precipitation since November. They were also some the driest areas this summer. They still have pretty big soil moisture deficits over the last 6 or 8 months in that core that was D4 exceptional drought at the peak back in September,” said Aaron Wilson, Ohio State University Extension ag weather and climate field specialist. “What we’ve not seen is a big signal improvement in things like the rivers and the ponds. Our soil has taken on some more moisture of course and it’s been really cold in January so a lot of that’s frozen, but there there’s some more water running down there than there was just several weeks ago and that’s a good thing.… Continue reading