Roanoke Valley Drought Dashboard
2001–2003 drought recovery · where we stand today

Roanoke Valley Drought Dashboard

How do Roanoke’s current rainfall and water levels measure up to the region’s worst drought? Check rainfall totals and water levels at Smith Mountain Lake and Carvins Cove compared to the peak of the 2001–2003 drought.

01

Current Water Situation

Where things stand right now — updated rainfall, weekly Virginia drought map, Smith Mountain Lake, and the Carvins Cove reservoir levels.

Where we stand today: 2026 precipitation

A snapshot from the National Weather Service Roanoke climate report. The gauge shows this year's rainfall as a share of normal for the year so far.

64%
of year-to-date normal through July 19
Tank: 2026 rain vs ~42" annual avg · dashed line = normal to date
Year-to-date rain
15.66"
Normal: 24.56"
Departure from normal
-8.90"
behind for the year
Since June 1
-1.94"
5.25" actual · 7.19" normal
Month to date (Jul)
+0.17"
2.70" actual · 2.53" normal
NWS updates Daily Climate data around 5:30 AM and 5:30 PM ET. For the latest numbers, open the NWS Daily Climate Report for Roanoke.

Roanoke rainfall calendar

Daily precipitation recorded at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport (KROA). Pick an available month and year to see the day-by-day breakdown and how the month stacks up against normal. Available years: 2001–2003 and 2025–2026. Tap any day for details.

Most days come from NOAA NCEI's quality-controlled daily summaries. Because NCEI quality-controls each day (a 3–4 day lag), the most recent days are filled in from live NWS observations at KROA and marked preliminary until the official NCEI value arrives.

 
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
Tap a day to see its rainfall total.
0.00" trace–0.10" 0.11–0.50" 0.51–1.00" 1.00"+ preliminary (NWS, pending NCEI QC)
Daily observations: NOAA NCEI Daily Summaries, station USW00013741 (Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport), with the most recent days filled from NWS observations at KROA (preliminary, pending NCEI quality control). The current-month normal comparison comes from the NWS Daily Climate Report for Roanoke.

Virginia drought map, this week

U.S. Drought Monitor status for Virginia for the week of July 14, 2026. Categories range from D0 (abnormally dry) to D4 (exceptional drought). The Drought Monitor is issued once a week, every Thursday morning, based on conditions through the preceding Tuesday.

Source: U.S. Drought Monitor / USDA-NDMC. Virginia only; latest available uploaded week.

Smith Mountain Lake

Fed by the Roanoke River, Smith Mountain Lake is operated by Appalachian Power. Its annual high and low elevations echo the same dry spell — and today's live reading sits below the normal operating band.

789.40 ft
current elevation
live level retrieved
Lake level via Smith Mountain Lake, data from Appalachian Power (AEP) — FERC-licensed operator.
Full pond795.0 ft
Current level789.40 ft
5.6 ft below full pond
Normal operating range793–795 ft
currently below the normal band
Leesville Lake (downstream)604.4 ft
full pond 613.0 ft
Recorded range787.6 – 799.8 ft
low 1970 · high 1978
The lake's minimum elevation dips during the drought years before rebounding — a second, independent signal that the whole Roanoke watershed was running dry.

Carvins Cove Reservoir

Carvins Cove is the Roanoke Valley's largest reservoir, operated by the Western Virginia Water Authority. The gauge shows where today's level sits between the 2002 drought low and full pond (1,170 feet above sea level).

1,154.7 ft
15.3 ft below full pond
64.5% of capacity · as of July 19, 2026
Reservoir level via Western Virginia Water Authority. Open the live WVWA reservoir report.
Full pond (spillway)1,170.0 ft
Current level1,154.7 ft
15.3 ft below · July 19, 2026
Capacity remaining64.5%
Gallons remaining~4.14 billion
2002 drought low1,135.9 ft
34.1 ft below · Oct 8, 2002
Past-year high1,168.8 ft
1.2 ft below · Aug 6, 2025
02

Comparing 2001–2003 Drought

The rainfall deficit, month-by-month decline, annual totals, and Virginia drought severity that defined the worst dry spell in the valley's modern record.

2001 Rainfall 24.9" 58% of normal — the drought begins Severe deficit
2002 Rainfall 33.7" 79% of normal — drought at its peak Still below
2003 Rainfall 54.3" 127% of normal — the recovery year Soaking wet
Carvins Cove, recorded low 34.1 ft below full pond, Oct 8, 2002 Drought-era low

Timeline of the 2001–2003 Drought

The numbers above in motion: how a multi-year La Niña dry spell gripped the state, and how a sudden El Niño shift broke the cycle. Click any point to explore.

The rainfall gap: how far behind "normal" we fell

Each point shows how many inches of rain Roanoke was ahead of (above zero) or behind (below zero) a normal year, added up week by week from January 2001 through December 2003.

Behind normal (rainfall deficit) Ahead of normal (recovery)
The bottom of the hole: by late 2002 Roanoke had built a rainfall deficit of about 31 inches below normal. Even after a very wet 2003, the three-year total still ended roughly 15 inches short of normal — but the timing of the storms was enough to refill the reservoirs and lift the drought.

When did the decline begin? Monthly rainfall explorer

Pick any year from 1998–2026 to see its month-by-month rainfall against the long-run monthly normal. The default — 2001 — shows the decline in action: almost every month came in below normal.

The slide and the rebound, month by month

Monthly departure from normal (inches above/below) for 2000–2003. Watch the bars sink below zero through 2001 and into 2002, then swing positive as 2003's rains arrive.

The drought didn't arrive in a single dry month — it was month after month below normal through 2001, deepening in 2002. Recovery came the same way: a run of wet months in 2003 that refilled the system.

Annual rainfall vs. the long-term average

Roa­noke's total precipitation each year (1995–2010), with the ~41" normal shown as a line.

2001 and 2002 both sit well below the average line; 2003 shoots far above it — the single wet year that broke the drought.

Virginia drought severity, then and now

Share of Virginia in severe or worse (D2+), extreme or worse (D3+), and exceptional (D4) drought, week by week — clipped to Virginia from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Left: the 2001–2003 drought. Right: the 2025–2026 current period (no USDM files for 2004–2024).

2001–2003 drought

2025–2026 current

Virginia at peak drought

Source: U.S. Drought Monitor / USDA-NDMC. Virginia only.

What would it take to recover from a drought today?

Recovery isn't just about total rainfall — it depends on runoff, soil moisture, water demand, evaporation, and the timing of storms. But as a rough, meteorology-only guide: how many months of above-normal rain would it take to erase a given rainfall deficit? Drag the sliders and watch the tank.

8.9 in
2 in/mo
Cracked, drought-stricken earth Recovering green ground
73% recovered

Cracked earth represents today's drought. Drag Extra rainfall per month to watch green grass return and rain intensify as recovery builds.

~4 months
of above-normal rainfall to erase a deficit of 8.9 inches, adding 2 in/month above normal
Educational estimate only — rainfall ≠ reservoir refill. The deficit slider starts at today's year-to-date deficit; 31 inches was the deepest point of the 2002 drought.