The drought has come to an END across our part of the Tennessee Valley! As of the latest Drought Monitor update released on August 6, 2026, NONE of our viewing area is labeled officially in drought conditions. Only a very small part of the Shoals remains in “abnormally dry” conditions, and that could be easily erased with one heavy rainfall. Rain totals have been uneven for the past week, with some areas not getting a lot, and other isolated areas getting several inches. Rainfall for the past 30 days has been much better, with everyone ranging between 4 and 8 inches, which puts the area from near to normal to some folks as much as double the rain they typically see for this time of year. However, despite all the rain we have seen for the past few months, long-term rainfall deficits of 1 to 2 FEET remain, especially over northwest Alabama. This means that, while conditions are good in terms of drought now, we will have to be careful with any prolonged periods of hot, dry weather that could quickly dry out the top layer of soil again.
The good news is, we don’t expect any super hardcore dry conditions anytime soon; so, there should be no concerns of returning to drought anytime soon. The NWS forecast rainfall totals for the next 7 days are in the 1 to 2 inch range, and the NWS Climate Prediction Center has us outlooked above average precipitation through mid month. They do revert to slightly below average by the third week of August, but even that won’t mean we are completely bone dry.