Megan Smith
Research Assistant
and
Glen Conner
State Climatologist Emeritus for Kentucky
The period of 1930-1931 was the worst drought to affect Kentucky. This drought began in all regions of Kentucky during the spring of 1930. For the entire year, this drought was severe in the Bluegrass and Eastern regions and moderate in the Western and Central regions. During 1931, conditions continued to be very dry. In the Bluegrass, Central, and Eastern regions the annual mean PDSI values were in the extreme category. The Western region was into the severe category making 1931 the driest year over the entire state with an overall annual average PDSI value of -4.73, which is in the extreme category. This particular drought period didn't improve out of the moderate range in the Western and Eastern regions until fall 1932. The drought recovery in the Central and Bluegrass regions began around December of 1931.