ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Alexandria remains under a drought warning advisory after state regulators downgraded conditions elsewhere in Virginia, the Department of Environmental Quality said Thursday.
The state’s Drought Monitoring Task Force eased 15 counties and 10 cities from a warning to a watch — the New River and York-James regions, along with part of the Middle James — citing recent rainfall. The Northern Virginia region, which covers Alexandria along with Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun and Prince William counties and the cities of Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park, stayed at warning.
A warning is the third of four advisory levels the state uses, above a watch and below an emergency. The Roanoke River region remains under a drought emergency.
The warning holds despite heavy rain across the region on Sunday and Monday. DEQ says precipitation is only one of the measures the task force weighs, alongside groundwater levels, reservoir levels, soil moisture and streamflow — and the slower-moving indicators have not caught up…