Drought grass and dead leaves at Frick Park, 20 Sept 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

21 September 2025

In early August I started to notice drooping plants and drought-like conditions in my Pittsburgh neighborhood but U.S. Drought Monitor and the rainfall meter at Pittsburgh International Airport said everything was fine. Here in Pittsburgh’s East End we were in a localized drought. The rain clouds kept parting before they got here.

Since then it hasn’t rained anywhere in the area except for a bit on 4 September. The ground is brown, leaves are falling early, and it is still sunny and hot. Yesterday was 85°.

Drought: Playing field at Frick Park, 20 Sept 2025 (photo by Kate St. John)

By mid September we should have had 30 inches of precipitation in Pittsburgh. Instead we’ve had only 25.83 and the entire deficit has occurred since mid July.

U.S. Drought Monitor‘s national drought assessment map now shows parts of our area in Extreme Drought (red). Our area is circled in pink on the disjoint map below.

Maps from U.S. Drought Monitor at UNL

Will it end soon? The Weather Service predicts at 50% chance of rain on Monday night for a possible total of 0.39 inches and showers on Thursday that might drop more than 0.85 inches. But in my experience a 50% chance of rain during a drought is just wishful thinking.

We’ll see.

p.s. Why the disjoint map? The tri-state area of Ohio, western PA and West Virginia is split into two regions by U.S. Drought Monitor along the Ohio River and at the PA-OH line.