CommonWx

Drought has gripped the Commonwealth for months now. And that has left Virginia’s farmers in a tough spot.

Drought conditions persist across Virginia – with the Roanoke Valley and areas further southeast, including Bedford, Danville and Martinsville, reaching an emergency status this week. Local, regional and state officials are stressing the need for more Virginians to conserve water.

A new analysis shows nearly all of this year's matches will be played with "performance impairing heat."

You’re probably well aware of this fact – especially if you work in or have any connections to agriculture – it’s quite dry across the Commonwealth right now.

Many emergency management staff in Virginia and across the country are under staffed and under funded according to recent reporting from ProPublica. What exactly does that mean for the folks tasked with keeping their communities safe from disasters, past, present and future?

Meteorologists and other officials at the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center have a new tool in their arsenal to help people across the country be better prepared for severe weather.

Spring is right around the corner – which means many farmers across the Commonwealth are hard at work preparing for the growing season.They’re doing that with the ever-growing impact of a warming climate and extreme heat events – which certainly have been documented in Virginia in recent years.

We’re a few weeks into the new year – which also happens to represent a new frontier for weather forecasting in this country.Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration introduced new weather prediction models powered by artificial intelligence.

It feels like we just did this exercise, but it's that time of year to look back at some of the most impactful (and some of my favorite) CommonWx stories from 2025.

Last month, the Virginia Climate Center at George Mason University released “the Commonwealth’s first comprehensive, science-based evaluation of how past, current and anticipated climate conditions have and will impact Virginia and its people.”