The past three weeks in Youngstown have certainly been unusual.
There have been dry conditions, wildfire smoke obscuring the sun, and even low temperatures in the 30s in some locations.
Friday, the dry streak in Youngstown reached a big milestone. Yesterday was the 20th day in a row with no precipitation at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Airport. This period has now entered the top 10 longest dry streaks of all time in Youngstown.
| Rank | Days without precipitation | Time period |
| T-1 | 25 | 1963-10-04 through 1963-10-28 |
| T-1 | 25 | 1922-09-13 through 1922-10-07 |
| T-3 | 23 | 1995-08-16 through 1995-09-07 |
| T-3 | 23 | 1964-08-26 through 1964-09-17 |
| T-3 | 23 | 1938-08-12 through 1938-09-03 |
| T-3 | 23 | 1924-10-09 through 1924-10-31 |
| T-3 | 23 | 1920-10-03 through 1920-10-25 |
| 4 | 21 | 1939-08-15 through 1939-09-04 |
| T-5 | 20 | 2023-05-21 through 2023-06-09 |
| T-5 | 20 | 1942-04-12 through 1942-05-01 |
| T-5 | 20 | 1931-09-05 through 1931-09-24 |
Most of the time periods above consist of the months August, September, and October. Only 1942 and 2023 stand out as being this dry during the spring months. If today stays dry, which is highly likely, then 2023 will move into a tie with 1939 with 21 consecutive dry days which would be the eighth longest all time.
So far, 2023 is tied with the year 1929 for the driest start to the month of June. The 30 day rainfall deficit in Youngstown and surrounding areas is now over 1.5″ in most locations and that will only go up Saturday.
The dry conditions have caused drought to develop across the entire Valley. This week, the drought conditions regressed into a moderate drought. The drought conditions have been even worse in Canada where massive wildfires produced smoke that caused air quality issues all across the eastern United States.
Thankfully the dry streak will officially come to an end tomorrow as rain chances finally push back into the area. The storm system will bring very beneficial rain to the area and it won’t be the only chance for precipitation this week.
Hopefully, the rainfall this week will allow drought conditions to improve.
