Drought Information Statement for Northern Ohio
Valid October 9, 2025
Issued By: NWS Cleveland
Contact Information: nicholas.greenawalt@noaa.gov  
This product will be updated by November 6, 2025 or sooner if drought conditions significantly change.
Please see all currently available products at https://drought.gov/drought-information-statements.
Please visit https://www.weather.gov/cle/DroughtInformationStatement for previous statements. 
Please visit https://www.drought.gov/drought-status-updates for regional drought status updates.
Drought conditions have worsened across portions of the area.
Extreme Drought (D3) conditions have spread across interior Northwest Ohio. This is the most widespread D3 conditions have been across the NWS Cleveland area since the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor began in 2000.
Rain is likely across Northeast Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania over the weekend.
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U.S. Drought Monitor

Drought intensity and Extent
D3 (Extreme Drought): Interior northwest Ohio.
D2 (Severe Drought): Portions of northwest Ohio, western Marion County, and southeast Crawford County (PA).
D1 (Moderate Drought): Much of northern Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania.
D0: (Abnormally Dry): Interior northern Ohio from roughly eastern Wyandot and Marion counties east to Mahoning and southern Trumbull counties. Conditions are also present across north-central Erie County, PA including the city of Erie.

Recent Change in Drought Intensity
Four Week Drought Monitor Class Change. 
Drought conditions have worsened across the most of the area over the last several weeks.
Northwest Ohio and interior northwest Pennsylvania have had at least 2 classes of degradation.
The rest of the area has seen no changes or 1 class of degradation.

Precipitation
Portions of northern Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania have received 1 to 4 inches of rain in the last 30 days with locally higher amounts across northern Crawford (OH) and Richland counties. Most of this rain fell in the last week.
Northwest Ohio and portions of north-central Ohio have received less than 1 inch of rain in the last 30 days.
Despite the rain earlier this week, 30-day precipitation across most of northern Ohio is still 50 percent or less of normal. Interior north-central and northeast Ohio are near normal.

        
Temperature
Average temperatures over the last 7 days (ending 10/4) have been at least 8 degrees above normal.
Average temperatures over the last 30 days (ending 10/4) have been above normal, generally by 3 to 6 degrees.

Summary of Impacts
Hydrologic Impacts 
Streamflow values are generally below normal (less than 25%) where severe drought (D2) or worse conditions are present. (USGS)
14-day average streamflow on Maumee River at Waterville, OH has dropped below the 9th percentile. (USGS)
The riverbeds of many creeks and small streams are low or dry. (CoCoRaHS) 

Agricultural Impacts
Soybean and corn harvests have started. (CoCoRaHS)
Abnormally dry daily shallow soil moisture values across the area. (CPC)
Low Crop Moisture Index values across the area, especially in D2 and D3 areas. (CPC)

Fire Hazard Impacts
No known impacts at this time.

Other Impacts
No known impacts at this time.

Mitigation Actions
Please refer to your municipality and/or water provider for mitigation information.

Seven Day Precipitation Forecast
Lake-enhanced rain showers are likely across northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania this weekend with lower rain chances across the western half of the area.
Precipitation totals of a trace to 0.5” likely where rain showers occur.
Outside of a small chance of periodic lake effect rain showers across northwest Pennsylvania, dry weather is favored for most of the area next week.
7-day rainfall totals across northwest Ohio will likely be less than 0.25”.


Long-Range Outlooks
The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage
The monthly precipitation outlook for October leans below normal for precipitation.
The monthly temperature outlook for October indicates that temperatures will likely be above normal.


Drought Outlook
The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage
Drought conditions are predicted to persist across the much of the local area through the end of 2025.