NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The first half of 2025 was one of the wettest first halves of a year on record in Middle Tennessee. Since then, rain has been rare, and drought is beginning to form across the area.
From March to June, Nashville recorded more than 27 inches of rainfall. In fact, April and May were the top 10 wettest months with more than eight inches of rainfall.
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When the calendar flipped to July, the rain chances became fewer, and in the first 10 days of August, rain has been extremely scattered.
The lack of rainfall has caused abnormally dry and drought conditions to pop up across Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky.
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The most recent drought monitor, which came out on Thursday, Aug. 7, is pictured below. An update to the drought conditions will be released on Thursday, Aug. 14.
According to the assistant state climatologist Wil Tollefson, the newest update will likely have more of News 2’s viewing area in the abnormally dry category. However, he added since we are still in a rainfall surplus for the year, the moderate drought area shouldn’t expand too much.
Tollefson said Middle Tennessee could see a flash drought, which is pretty common in this part of the country, especially this time of year.
“Here in the southeast, we generally get pretty even rainfall spread throughout the year, so especially in the summer months, when it’s really hot in the daytime, we can go into these drought impacts pretty quickly, and that’s what we call a flash drought,” Tollefson explained to News 2.
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He added that flash droughts cause the most impacts to lawns and hay fields. Flash droughts can reportedly impact how much hay fields can produce, and that can impact the cattle industry in Tennessee.
According to Tollefson, last year’s drought was worse by now, and caused cattle farmers to reduce stock and sell their herds early.
There is some rain in the forecast and signs that drought could stay away this fall. The News 2 Weather Authority Team is forecasting increased rain chances in the 7-day forecast, and the Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above-average rainfall for the next few months!
Don’t forget to take the power and reliability of the WKRN Weather Authority with you at all times by downloading the News 2 Storm Tracker app.
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