Rain is in Columbus’ forecast for the first time since early September as a late-summer drought continues to settle in across Ohio, according to the National Weather Service.
There is a chance of showers Sept. 21 through Sept. 26, with the highest chance of precipitation occurring on Sunday and Monday night, according to NWS Wilmington.
The upcoming storms and rain will likely be too sporadic to alleviate the moderate drought Columbus is currently experiencing, according to NWS meteorologist John Franks.
“Any rain is going to be beneficial, but what we’re looking at in the upcoming forecast is not an all-day soaker,” he said.
The entire state is currently experiencing some level of dryness measured on the U.S. Drought Monitor’s drought scale.
Between the monitor’s Sept. 9 and Sept. 16 drought maps, much of the state’s drought conditions increased in severity from abnormally dry conditions to moderate drought. A small pocket of north-central Ohio, which had been experiencing no dry conditions, is now experiencing abnormally dry conditions.
September is usually one of the state’s drier months because corn crops start drying and stop releasing moisture into the atmosphere, according to Franks.
“You’re not going to have a storm form over a corn field. It doesn’t quite go like that but injection of moisture in the lower levels over a broad area of the country is definitely going to increase the occurrence of rain when we get more moisture being pulled in from the Gulf,” he said.
Ohio’s drought could persist through the fall and into the winter. A NOAA map released on Sept. 18 predicts the drought will continue until at least Dec. 31.
Here’s Columbus’ full forecast for the week ahead.
Columbus forecast for the week of Sept. 19. 2025
Breaking and trending news reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com and at @NathanRHart on X and at nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Rain returns to Columbus forecast as Ohio drought conditions persist. Will it matter?
Reporting by Nathan Hart, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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