By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Continued dry conditions over the past week have led to the expansion of drought areas in Kentucky, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report.
Only small slivers of Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties have no drought conditions, which is only 0.03 percent of the state’s land area. That is down from 4.37 percent statewide in the previous report.
Abnormally dry conditions, D0 on the scale that runs up to D4 for exceptional drought, is now reported in 4.82 percent of Kentucky, in areas along the Ohio River between Jefferson and Mason counties. That is a drop from 13.81 percent last week.
Moderate drought conditions, or D1, saw a small increase from the last report, from 55.34 percent to 55.81 percent, but the biggest rises were seen in the next two drought categories.
D2, or severe drought is now in 26.76 percent of Kentucky’s land area, up from 23.62 percent that was recorded last week.
Extreme drought conditions, or D3, saw the largest jump from a week ago, going from 2.86 percent to 12.58 percent. This includes large areas of Western Kentucky.
No areas of Kentucky are reported to have D4 conditions this week. See the map that accompanies this story for information on how your county fared.
Brian Fuchs with the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln noted, “Kentucky experienced further degradation, with virtually the entire state now in drought. Moderate and severe drought expanded across western and central areas. The period from November 2025 through March 2026 ranks as the fifth-driest five-month period on record for Kentucky’s western climatic division.”
There may be some good news in the days ahead, according to the Climate Prediction Center, as Kentucky is being forecast to have near or slightly below temperatures during the period that ends May 2, along with slightly above normal precipitation.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is jointly produced by the NDMC, the United States Department of Agriculture, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The observations are taken every Tuesday..