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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Alexandria remains under a drought warning, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said Friday, as the state kept its existing drought advisories in place despite heavy rain across the Commonwealth in recent days.
Nearly all of Virginia, including Alexandria, is in a drought warning — a status meant to signal that a significant drought event is imminent. Only Isle of Wight County and the southeastern cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach are in the less severe drought watch.
Recent storms helped, but not enough to lift the advisories, DEQ said. Most localities received two to four inches of rain on average, greatly improving streamflow and upper soil moisture. Deeper soil moisture and groundwater, however, remain well below normal. Of the state's 24 groundwater monitoring wells, 20 are still below the 10th percentile for this time of year.
Statewide precipitation is running about seven and a half inches below normal for the water year, which began Oct. 1, 2025, the agency said. No significant rain is forecast over the next 14 days, and officials warned the drought could worsen as temperatures climb and more moisture evaporates.
The local outlook offers little relief. The National Weather Service forecast calls for dry, sunny weather in Alexandria through at least next Friday, with daytime highs rising from the low 70s this weekend to near 88 by the end of the week — the kind of warm, rainless stretch DEQ said could deepen the drought.
The agency assesses drought using four indicators: precipitation, groundwater levels, streamflow and reservoir levels. Long-term groundwater levels remain a concern and will need a prolonged stretch of rainfall to recover, DEQ said.
With the hottest months approaching, DEQ and the state's Drought Monitoring Task Force said they will continue to monitor conditions and issue updates every two weeks for the duration of the drought.
More information is available on the DEQ drought webpage and its online drought dashboard, which tracks stream gauges, groundwater wells, soil moisture and precipitation.
