CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – We’ve had the warnings in the northern Shenandoah Valley and Northern Virginia, and watches the rest of the state, but Accuweather expert meteorologists say a flash drought has developed and intensified in a region stretching from the Carolinas, through Virginia, and into Pennsylvania.

“Severe and extreme drought conditions have developed in the Carolinas. The lack of rainfall combined with relentless, widespread heat have really dried this area out,” said AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno. “Drought has expanded across much of the Southeast. We could really use some rain.”
“A flash drought is described as the sudden arrival of drought conditions that are “set in motion by lower-than-normal rates of precipitation, accompanied by abnormally high temperatures, winds, and [solar] radiation.”

Unlike long-lasting droughts, similar to the ones observed across the western United States in recent years, Accuweather says flash droughts are often short-term in nature and can disappear as quickly as they arrive. Although they can be brief, flash droughts can create major and long-lasting impacts. With effects most notable in the top layers of the soil, impacts range from dried, burned-out lawns to low flows on smaller creeks and streams, as well as detrimental effects on agriculture and crop yields.