Rainfall across the Tennessee Valley remains scarce, leading to deteriorating drought conditions. With much of the region now more than 5 inches behind in rainfall for the year, severe drought has set in.

As of October 17, much of the Tennesee Valley has been placed under severe drought. That is one level higher than where much of the area was last week.

The rain situation is not good, in fact, Huntsville is behind by 1.62 inches for the month of October alone. Decatur is behind by 1.81 inches, while Muscle Shoals is behind by 1.72 inches for the month.

The year-to-date rainfall continues to suffer as well, with Huntsville falling behind by almost 5 and a 1/2 inches. In the Shoals, the situation is even more dire with year-to-date rainfall falling behind by 7.62 inches.

So far in the month of October, there has only been 0.41 inches of rain in the Huntsville area. This would put 2023 at the 9th driest October on record, with 1924 being the driest with no measurable rain recorded in the month.

The Shoals is also on track to have their 9th driest October on record with just 0.23 inches measured so far. The driest October on record in the Shoals was in 1963 with no measurable rainfall in the month.