It hasn't rained for a while in Evansville, and the dry weather will continue

EVANSVILLE − There hasn't been measurable rainfall in Evansville since Aug. 2, a stretch of dry weather that is by no means unprecedented, but it's still having an impact here.

The bad news: There isn't any rain in the forecast in the foreseeable future, either.

Here's what a National Weather Service meteorologist is saying about current conditions.

Why has it been so dry in the Evansville area?

The last time anyone locally got a good, thorough rainfall was on Aug. 2, when 0.76 of precipitation fell at Evansville Regional Airport. Since then? Not much of anything. There have been three days with "trace" amounts of rainfall, but that's barely enough to wet down a sidewalk, let alone help crops and lawns.

Derrick Snyder, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Paducah, Kentucky, said two patterns have dominated the atmosphere locally in August.

"Early in the month, we were warmer and drier than normal, and then we transitioned to cooler and drier than normal," he said.

"Mainly, we had this setup over North America where you have a ridge of high pressure that blocks precipitation from forming," Snyder said. "That switched to a trough with low pressure over the eastern United States, and we missed out on the widespread rains in that transition."

How much rain usually falls in August in this area?

An average August in Evansville sees 3.07 inches of rain. It's usually the driest month of the year in this region, but it's been especially dry in 2024. Only 1.28 inches of rain have fallen in Evansville this month, and there's not much hope for more through the end of August.

The upside of all the inclement weather Evansville experienced before August is that it kept the area ahead of average for rainfall for the year until now.

As of Aug. 22, a total of 32.55 inches of precipitation had been measured in 2024 in Evansville − almost exactly what the average should be for this point in the year, even with the recent dry stretch figured in.

Is there any rain in the forecast?

In short: No.

Snyder said there's very little chance of any substantial rain falling through at least the end of August. He also pointed to the Climate Prediction Center's 14-day outlook. It runs through Sept. 4 and has the Tri-State in an area of below-normal precipitaion chances.

"This is not super unusual for late summer and early fall in this area," Snyder said. "ut now that we're getting back into a pattern where we heat back up, that's not going to make the conditions any better."

What is the concern with all the dry weather?

One concern, Snyder said, is that you enter into a sort of "feedback loop" with regards to moisture.

Essentially, the dry ground means that air heats up quicker than usual. And that in turn causes more drying in the ground, which heats the air more, and so on.

"Hot and dry" can be a hard loop to break, he said.

And as fall approaches, there's also a concern that leaves will dry out more than normal, and it will lead to elevated fire risks in September and October.

While farmers like having dry conditions to get their large pieces of equipment into the fields for harvest, there's a worry that maybe this dry stretch happened too soon.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: When will it rain again in Evansville?