No Drought Worries Yet In Vermont As Long Dry Spell Continues

For the first time this year, the grass on parts of my yard
in St. Albans, Vermont is getting brown thanks to a long
dry spell. You can also see a hose leading past the frame
to the raised beds down the hill.

 In almost the entire state of Vermont, it's now been a week and a half without a drop of rain. 

You've probably had to water any lingering plants  you want to preserve into the autumn. 

For the first time this year, I've noticed a few brown or at least brownish areas on some lawns, including a few spots on mine here in St. Albans. 

The lack of rain is still absolutely nothing to worry about, unless this goes on for weeks or months. Which I doubt will happen. 

The U.S. Drought Monitor, which comes out every Thursday, still doesn't show any drought in the Green Mountain State. 

The drought monitor has a five-point scale to describe levels of dryness in an area. The lowest level is "abnormally dry," which isn't quite drought but indicates an area that is at risk for one. 

Then the scale goes upward to moderate drought, then "severe", "extreme" and the worst cast scenario "exceptional."

This dry spell has had the "abnormally dry" category beginning to take shape and expand in parts of New England. About 25 percent of  both Maine and New Hampshire is abnormally dry. 

For the first time this year, a tiny sliver of Vermont is now "abnormally dry" according to the newest U.S. Drought Monitor released yesterday. 

That "abnormally dry" area encompasses just 0.72 percent of Vermont. It's just a tiny area around White River Junction.  At the start of summer, in June, about half of the Green Mountain State was abnormally dry, but that quickly went down to zero with our exceptionally wet summer. 

Just a teeny, tiny sliver of Vermont (in yellow) is now
considered "abnormally dry" by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Rainfall for the year overall is still ahead of average. As of Thursday, Burlington has still had 2.58 inches more rain than usual for the year up to this point. Montpelier is running about 3.5 inches ahead of normal for the year so far.   

With a continued lack of rain in the forecast for the next few days, I think next week's U.S. Drought Monitor will expand the "abnormally dry" category in Vermont, we'll wait and see on that. 

Under the "abnormally dry" category, lawns start to turn brown, gardens wilt and the fire danger becomes elevated. 

Already, the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation says the southern half of Vermont has a high fire risk.  The rest of Vermont except the Northeast Kingdom has a moderate fire risk. 

I'd be careful with those late season camp fires. 

We might actually get a sprinkle in one or two spots today and Saturday, but that won't amount to anything. The vast majority of us will stay dry. 

There are signs of a change in the weather pattern that would bring somewhat wetter conditions to Vermont starting the middle of next week. So far at least, I'm not super impressed by how much rain those models are indicating. 

But it's a long way off, so I can't really say whether we'll get a good soaker in about a week, or just more spritzes and sprinklers.