As The Rain Comes Down, The Vermont Drought Worsens

This morning's weekly U.S. Drought 
Monitor now shows extreme drought 
across central Vermont (red shading)
All the rest of Vermont except the 
extreme northwest and a tiny spot
near Brattleboro are in severe drought. 

The weekly U.S. Drought Report, out this morning, shows a definitely worsening trend in Vermont's drought. 

Yes, I know it's raining, but the data in the weekly report only goes through Tuesday, when it was barely starting to rain.  Next week's report will take into account today's rain. 

Despite today's frequent showers, the drought won't go away. We need much more than one rainy day to solve this problem. 

Let's take it piece by piece, starting with today's new drought report

WORSENING TREND

The weekly Drought Report rates droughts with increasing severity on scale going from moderate, severe, extreme to exceptional.

Last week, for the first time in this drought, extreme drought entered the picture in Vermont, covering a tiny sliver of the central Connecticut River Valley.  It covered about just 2 percent of Vermont's land mass

This week, extreme drought has spread across central Vermont, covering about a quarter of the state. 

Severe drought has expanded, too. It now covers virtually all of the state. Only tiny slivers in far northwest Vermont and a small spot near Brattleboro are "merely" in moderate drought. 

Over in New Hampshire, the drought worsened, too. About a quarter of the Granite State was in extreme drought last week. Now it's a third of the state. In Maine, extreme drought expanded in southern parts of the. And for the first time, all of Maine is at least abnormally dry, if not in drought 

In New York, the drought isn't quite as bad as it is in northern New England, but it's bad enough, and has worsened a bit since last week, the Drought Monitor tells us. There are no areas of extreme drought in New York, but severe drought expanded a little in New York's Champlain Valley and parts of the Adirondacks. 

The extreme drought in central Vermont almost touches the New York border in western Rutland County. 

EFFECTS

The effects of this drought are starting to cost us lots of money. Dairy farms are finding stunted corn, alfalfa and hay crops because of the dry weather. 

Houses are without water. Every morning when I turn on my tap I feel blessed that my well is still producing.  

Some people are resorting to hiring people to dig deeper wells, but that can cost tens of thousands of dollars. We are also seeing some businesses close. For instance, the Busy Bee Diner in Glover was closed at last report for lack of water. 

Fall foliage is looking muted. That fact, and the publicity surrounding the somewhat duller colors will cost Vermont a ton of revenue from tourists. To be fair, the foliage will still be gorgeous in many areas, but not as good as the past few years. 

Trees and shrubs are showing signs of drought damage, and some might end up dying. 

Check out the video at the bottom of this post for a look at what the drought is looking like along northern Vermont rivers, and in Lake Champlain. 

RAIN AND FORECAST

Forecasted rain from 8 a.m. today to 8 a.m. Friday
would give about a half inch in additional showers
north and more than an inch south. This is obviously
super welcome, but won't come close to 
ending Vermont's severe drought. 

While I was writing about the sentences about the extreme drought in Vermont that you just read, the rain outside my window briefly turned torrential. 

We'll ignore the fact that downpour stopped shortly after and no rain is falling now.   Still,  today's rain will be a temporary help. 

But it won't come close to erasing the drought. As I keep saying, it will take lots of heavy rain storms to solve this problem. 

Unfortunately, this continues to look like a temporary reprieve.

Through 9 a.m., southeast Vermont so far has the biggest reason to rejoice. It started raining in Springfield Wednesday afternoon, and so far they've received 1.45 inches. Lebanon, New Hampshire had clocked in with 0.67 inches through 9 a.m. 

Elsewhere in Vermont,  a quarter inch or less had fallen in most of central and northern Vermont. Burlington had 0.17 inches through 9 a.m. and St. Johnsbury 0.10.  An exception to the lighter rain in the north has been Franklin County, with those mid-morning downpours.  

The rest of today will be rainy.  The showers will stop at times. Other times, the rain will come down hard. Most of the time it will be light rain. 

For the rest of the day and through tonight, forecasts call for another half inch or so of rain in the north and a little over an inch of additional rain south.  

I have a feeling that this rain will make next week's Drought Monitor show perhaps slight improvement in Vermont, or at least not much worsening of the already bad drought in the Green Mountain State. 

The dry weather is coming back with a vengeance after the rain today, and the expected very light scattered, inconsequential showers forecast for Friday. 

Dry high pressure will establish itself over northern New England starting this weekend. It will stall over us or nearby and get incredibly strong. That means day after day of sunshine and dry air to evaporate what rain we got this week. 

Our next shot at any real rain after today doesn't look like it would arrive until around October 9 or 10. 

Video: 

Low water in Vermont rivers and Lake Champlain. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.