New England, Vermont Drought Worsens As Nor'easter Piffs Away

Most of Vermont, in yellow is now regarded as
abnormally dry. Moderate drought is in light
orange, and a sliver of southeastern Vermont
is in severe drought. 

 The out of season nor'easter that danced around off the New England coast is departing, leaving a still too dry region in its wake. 

The storm did produce some rain in New England, but for most areas, except parts of Maine, it wasn't a blockbuster. Here in Vermont, amounts ranged mostly from a tenth to a half inch, with the exception of a few isolated spots that got hit by isolated downpours. That tiny minority got more than half an inch. 

The latest weekly U.S. Drought Monitor was released Thursday, as usual, and shows drought expanding and deepening in New England.

The U.S. Drought Monitor has five categories of increasing severity. It starts with "abnormally dry," then escalates to moderate drought, severe drought, extreme drought and finally exceptional drought. 

In Massachusetts, for instance, about a quarter of that state's land area was in extreme drought (level four of five)  a week ago. Now, it's closer to 40 percent. All of Rhode Island and far eastern Connecticut area also in extreme drought. 

Some rivers in southern New England are at record low flow rates for this time of year. 

Here in Vermont, it's not as bad, but still getting a little worse. This is the third year in a row we've had on again, off again drought in the Green Mountain State. Unlike last year, when northern Vermont had it worst, southern Vermont is the dry part of the state.

The northwestern corner of Vermont is still somehow escaping any drought or abnormally dry designations, but that will soon change unless we receive some soakers soon. (I got bullseyed in St. Albans by an isolated heavy downpour Tuesday, which was nice, but most places didn't receive all that much rain). 

A good 82 percent of Vermont is designated as "abnormally dry" and 18 percent is in moderate drought. For the first time this year, a higher level severe drought was added yesterday to a sliver of southeastern Vermont. 

Some farmers in Vermont are beginning to experience trouble once again with the dry weather.  Crop yields, especially hay are down.  Hot weather this summer hasn't helped, as that has increased evaporation to stress plants. 

There's some concern that the drought is related to climate change. These dry spells have gotten more frequent in recent years, but they've also been punctuated by extreme precipitation events. That's consistent with what scientists have said would happen with climate change. We'd be more prone to both drought and flooding. Oh joy. 

In the short term, I'm not terribly wowed by precipitation prospects. Other than some very isolated showers, we have another dry, warm weekend coming up.  The first half of the upcoming week does bring us a decent shot at some showers, but it doesn't look like any kind of super soaker. 

Still, some rain would be better than none, so that's a plus.