Ohio
Ohio drought: Did Hurricane Helene remnants alleviate dry conditions around the state?
Drought in Ohio: How farms, ecosystems will be hurt by ongoing drought
A dried-up wetland is just one sign of the drought plaguing Ohio farms and ecosystems.
Ohio’s ongoing historic drought lessened over the past week after remnants of Hurricane Helene swept over the state, according to a new map from the U.S. Drought Monitor.
A record-high of 1.44 inches of rain fell on Columbus Friday and showers continued into the weekend.
Franklin County is no longer considered in an exceptional drought, the worst possible dry condition, according to the drought monitor’s newest map. However, a significant chunk of the county remains in the severe to extreme drought.
Extreme drought conditions also disappeared entirely from southwest Ohio in the new map, and a large band of exceptional drought has receded to southeast Ohio.
Only 2% of the state was drought-free on Sept. 24. Now, 14% of the state is clear of dry conditions, mostly in south-central and northeast Ohio, according to U.S. Drought Monitor Data.
Significant swathes of the state have had their drought downgraded from severe to moderate, and abnormally dry conditions—the least severe drought level—have become more common.
Ohio’s drought severity and coverage index, a score from 0 to 500 that measures the state’s general drought levels, fell from 298 to 212 over the past week.
While the previous weekend’s rain has helped, the state will need several rainfall events to exit the drought fully, an NWS meteorologist previously told The Dispatch.
There isn’t much rain in the National Weather Service’s upcoming forecast. Here’s what to expect.
Columbus weather for the week of Oct. 3, 2024
- Thursday: It’ll be sunny with a high near 79.
- Thursday night: It’ll be mostly clear with a low around 52.
- Friday: There will be patchy fog before 9 a.m. Otherwise, it’ll be mostly sunny with a high near 79.
- Friday Night: It’ll be mostly clear with a low around 53.
- Saturday: It’ll be sunny with a high near 76.
- Saturday Night: It’ll be clear with a low around 53.
- Sunday: There’s a chance of showers after 2 p.m. It’ll be sunny with a high near 84. The chance of precipitation is 30%.
- Sunday Night: There’s a chance of showers before 8 p.m. It’ll be mostly clear with a low around 50. The chance of precipitation is 30%.
- Monday: It’ll be sunny with a high near 69.
- Monday Night: It’ll be clear with a low around 45.
- Tuesday: It’ll be sunny with a high near 68.
- Tuesday Night: It’ll be clear with a low around 44.
- Wednesday: It’ll be sunny with a high near 69.
NHart@dispatch.com
@NathanRHart
The Ohio Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at May 10, 2026, results for each game:
Pick 3
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at 12:29 p.m. and 7:29 p.m., except Saturday evening.
Midday: 8-6-2
Evening: 7-0-5
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Pick 4
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at 12:29 p.m. and 7:29 p.m., except Saturday evening.
Midday: 9-4-7-0
Evening: 0-6-1-8
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Pick 5
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at 12:29 p.m. and 7:29 p.m., except Saturday evening.
Midday: 1-7-3-7-4
Evening: 9-0-8-8-0
Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Rolling Cash 5
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at approximately 7:05 p.m.
16-19-33-36-38
Check Rolling Cash 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Millionaire for Life
Drawings are held daily, seven days a week, at approximately 11:15 p.m.
01-03-20-35-46, Bonus: 05
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by an Enquirer digital news director. You can send feedback using this form.
Ryan Day will have some very familiar competition in the Big 10 soon.
The son of the Ohio State football coach, R.J. Day, announced his commitment to Northwestern for the Class of 2027 on Sunday.
Northwestern plays in the same conference as Ohio State and the schools will face each other.
R.J. Day, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound quarterback from — not surprisingly — Columbus, Ohio, has started for three years at St. Francis DeSales HS as he heads towards his senior season.
According to reports, the younger Day had other offers from Purdue, Syracuse, Cincinnati and South Florida, as well as others.
Northwestern has eight quarterbacks on head coach David Braun’s roster.
And the offensive coordinator for the Wildcats is Chip Kelly, who served in the same role for Ryan Day at Ohio State when the Buckeyes won the title in 2024.
Kelly, the former head coach at UCLA and Oregon, was also the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire when Ryan Day was the team captain from 1998-2001.
Most recently, Kelly was the OC with the Las Vegas Raiders before he took the job with Northwestern.
“It’s really surreal when you think about the relationships that we’ve had with those two as a family over the years,” R.J. Day told ESPN earlier this month. “Coach Kelly coached my dad in college, so that adds another layer to it.”
Cincinnati Reds legend and well-known gambler Pete Rose was possibly more than just curious about Ohio State football’s 2012 season when he texted Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer.
Appearing on “The Triple Option” show with Alabama running back Mark Ingram May 6, Meyer told a story about his relationship with Rose.
After OSU hired Meyer, the Reds asked him to throw out the first pitch at a game. Meyer threw to his son, Nathan, and walked into the dugout, where Rose, MLB’s all-time hit leader, was waiting to greet him.
“I couldn’t get enough talking about ‘Big Red Machine,’ and he wanted to talk college football,” Meyer said on the podcast, explaining how the two spoke for hours and exchanged numbers.
Meyer said that during his first season, Rose texted him early on. He wanted information about the team, like news on Braxton Miller’s shoulder injury.
“I told that to someone, and they said, ‘You’re an idiot. Do you know he’s trying to get information from you for gambling, and you could get in trouble?’ ” Meyer said.
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Though Meyer asserted that he never disclosed much, he started to steer the conversations clear of college football after he realized Rose potentially wanted information for gambling.
The two had another conversation in Las Vegas, where Rose told Meyer he gambled daily after retiring.
Rose was banned from baseball for betting on the sport, something he admitted to in his 2004 autobiography. Rose was reinstated in 2025 and so is considered eligible for the Hall of Fame.
Still baseball’s most prolific hitter (4,256 hits), Rose died in 2024.
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