Only time will tell whether the 50 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms the National Weather Service predicts for today and Friday will produce enough rain to ease the drought conditions that have spread across much of Kentucky this spring and summer.
At best, however, the frontal system that is bringing rain throughout much of the nation's midsection and caused widespread flooding in Texas and Oklahoma earlier in the week may cause those parched, brown laws to green up a bit.
Otherwise, the water deficit for the first six months of the year in Central Kentucky will be nearly impossible to erase.
And the irony is that the drought is occurring at the same time the debate rages over how best to assure the region and in particular Fayette County sufficient water during periods of severe drought.
We haven't reached the "severe" stage yet, and we can only hope rains today and tomorrow will help to prevent the region from reaching that stage.
But it also is important to note that, despite two months of only scant rainfall, there have been few water emergencies in the region that takes its water supply from the Kentucky River.
They're still washing cars in Lexington, and gardens in Frankfort are being watered on a daily basis. No rationing. No limits on water usage.
So that old river continues doing its critical job drought or no drought.
Water utilities, public and private, have to plan for the worst. That's their responsibility. Another month with the same drought conditions probably will set off an emergency in the water supply, and the debate over where best to secure additional water will become more urgent and pointed.
In the meantime, the Kentucky River just keeps on chugging along its meandering course across the state, spilling its contents eventually into the Ohio River, which someday may supply Central Kentucky with emergency water. The water circle closes.