Drought Information Statement for 
Eastern Ohio, Northern West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania
Valid October 30, 2025

Issued By: NWS Pittsburgh, PA

This product will be updated November 13, 2025 or sooner if drought conditions change significantly.
Please see all currently available products at https://drought.gov/drought-information-statements.
Please visit https://www.weather.gov/pbz/DroughtInformationStatement for previous statements.
Please visit https://www.drought.gov/drought-status-updates/ for regional drought status updates
Continued improvement in drought conditions due to recent rainfall. 
Extreme Drought (D3) conditions remain for a portion of eastern Tucker county.


U.S. Drought Monitor
Drought intensity and Extent
D4 (Exceptional Drought): None 

D3 (Extreme Drought): Portions of eastern Tucker.

D2 (Severe Drought): Ohio, Marshall, Tucker and Preston in WV; Belmont, Washington, Greene, Venango, and Forest in PA. 

D1 (Moderate Drought): Portions of eastern OH along the Ohio River, western PA west of I-79 and north of highway 422.
 
D0: (Abnormally Dry): Most of eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

Recent Change in Drought Intensity

Two Week Drought Monitor Class Change. 

Drought Worsened: None
 
No Change: areas designated as D0 remained status quo.

Drought Improved: across eastern Ohio, the northern WV panhandle, and western PA along I-79. 

Precipitation

Only light precipitation fell over areas north of I-80 in the last 7 days, which kept most of the area at 25% of normal or less.

Still for the last 30 days (graphic not shown), precipitation is still running at 75% of normal


Summary of Impacts
Hydrologic Impacts 
Streamflows running near normal except in the Youghiogheny and Cheat basins.
Soil moisture near or slightly below average across the entire region. 
Some private wells are low. 

Agricultural Impacts
Some impacts continue:
Grasslands affected, feeding hay to cattle sooner. Some farmers unable to get a second cut of hay and need to rely on purchasing. 
Farmers hauling water for livestock as wells/ponds have dried up. 
Some selling of livestock reported. 

Fire Hazard Impacts
Fire Risk is above normal.

Mitigation Actions
A few PA townships reporting voluntary water restrictions. 
A Drought Watch has been issued by the PA DEP and Drought Task Force for several counties in PA. Water conservation is encouraged. 
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/pennsylvania-american-water-reduce-use-drought-watch/

Hydrologic Conditions and Impacts

Streamflows are running below average for portions of the Cheat and Youghiogheny  basin.
 
Some of the local reservoirs have responded as a result of the rain but others continue to gradually fall. 

No impacts to navigation noted locally. 
Image Caption: USGS 7 day average streamflow (left) and USGS 14 day average streamflow (right) HUC map valid 10/30/2025

Agricultural Impacts
There remain some pockets of drier soils across the upper Ohio valley but some improvement is noted in eastern OH and northern WV. 


There continue to remain impacts, such as supplemental feeding and hauling of water.


Long-Range Outlooks
The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage

Warm temperatures and near average precipitation is expected through the next 8-14 days. 


Drought Outlook
The latest monthly and seasonal outlooks can be found on the CPC homepage

Drought could persist or slightly improve for some of the hardest hit areas in northern WV, eastern OH, and western PA. 


Links to the latest:
Climate Prediction Center Monthly Drought Outlook 
Climate Prediction Center Seasonal Drought Outlook