INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A stretch of dry weather during July and August has put many areas across the state very close to drought conditions.

A wet spring wasn’t enough to keep things from getting dry in a hurry across central Indiana.

Many counties across the state have been designated as “abnormally dry” by the Climate Prediction Center. This stage is what is typically a “watch” threshold, before drought is declared for an area.

It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. The difference in the rainfall against the average since June 1 and July 1 is pretty staggering. Since June 1 — the start of a very wet month — the southern half of the state has been above average by the tune of 1 to 2 inches of rain. That’s pretty incredible considering how dry Indiana was for the month of July.

Speaking of, look at the rainfall against the average since July 1. It’s a huge difference, with the entire state below normal, and in some areas several inches below normal.

We often say that once we get into a pattern, it’s very difficult to get out of. We may be trending that way over the next couple of weeks. While we have a decent shot for rain and storms Monday night, there really isn’t much out there to get excited about for the rest of the week.

Heading into next week, the 6- to-10-day outlook calls for below average precipitation.

There’s not much hope for optimism in the 8-to-14-day outlook either.

Unfortunately, we are also running into a period that is typically a little more dry. August through October are the driest three months of the warm weather season on average.