Drought Keeps Expanding, According To Closely Watched Weekly Report

Virtually all of the Northeast is now abnormally
dry or in drought according to the latest report

 Drought continues to worsen in much of the United States, and especially in the Northeast, a closely watched weekly report tell us. 

More than 87 percent of the nation is abnormally dry or in drought, according to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, the latest of which was released Thursday. 

 That's a few hundreds of a percentage point more than last week, so it breaks last week's record of the greatest percentage of the Lower 48 that is dry. 

In the Northeast, more than 93 percent of the region from Maryland to Maine is abnormally dry or in drought. That's up from  80 percent of the region in last week's report. 

Now the only areas still not considered abnormally dry are the Champlain Valley of Vermont and New York, a piece of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom and a few scattered areas in western New York. 

Actual drought covers more than half of the Northeast, up from a little over a third of the region in the previous week's report. The drought intensity has been upgraded from moderate to severe in eastern Massachusetts. In southern New Jersey, they saw an upgrade in the drought category from "severe" to "extreme."

More specifically in Vermont, the area of relative dryness in northern Vermont didn't change much week to week, but the area of southern Vermont now in drought definitely expanded. A quarter of the state is now in drought. That includes all of Bennington and Windham counties, along with the southern halves of Rutland and Windsor counties. 

Vermont is doing better than much of the Northeast
with drought, but that's not saying much.
Drought conditions expanded greatly in the
past week to encompass all of southern Vermont.

That's a big change from the small corners of far southern Vermont that were officially experiencing drought a week earlier. 

The immediate weather outlook remains dry, but there is a little hope for the Northeast. Gusty winds and dry air through southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic States gives today arguably the highest fire danger of this arid autumn yet.

There's been plenty of wildfires already in much of the Northeast, a few of which are still burning.  Those and more fire starts today could cause some scary issues.

Up here in Vermont, some expected light showers, especially north, might temper the fire risk somewhat today. 

The first honest to goodness rain in more than five weeks is due around Monday from southern New England through the Mid-Atlantic States. The forecast rainfall amounts are only somewhere near a quarter inch, so that wouldn't have much, if any impact on the drought.

But at least it might help quell the wildfires that keep breaking out in the region. Plus, it's possible another rain storm could hit the Middle Atlantic States and Northeast toward the end of the upcoming week. 

Computer models are all over the place with that one, with forecasts ranging from very little rain to a very nice soaker.  

It's not much to hang your hat on, but it's better than nothing.