Alleviation of the Drought

The latest drought monitor has been released by the National Drought Mitigation Center, and it looks like we have finally begun to alleviate the drought that has plagued New England for much of the summer and fall.

Current northeast drought monitor (National Drought Mitigation Center)

After the frequent heavy rains that we have seen this fall (and especially last weekend), much of western New England has finally achieved abnormally dry conditions or gotten to the "None" category on the drought monitor. The only parts of New England that are still experiencing a moderate drought are in Northern New England, and one small portion of far southeast New Hampshire is still in a severe drought.

If we compare the above map to what we were seeing just about two months ago, we can see how much the drought conditions have changed in such a short time.

Northeast drought monitor for October 6 (National Drought Mitigation Center)

On October 6, many areas were experiencing an "Extreme Drought" and now much of New England does not even have drought conditions. And fortunately for those areas that are still unusually dry, the Centers for Climate Prediction (CPC) 6-10 and 8-14 day precipitation outlooks (shown below) show a continued wet trend over the next two weeks. I would suspect that in a few weeks the Northeast drought monitor will show even less color than it does now.

6-10 day precipitation outlook (NOAA/CPC)

8-14 day precipitation outlook (NOAA/CPC)

While the lessening of the drought has been successful here in New England, the same can not be said of much of the country.

Current U.S. drought monitor (National Drought Mitigation Center)

Currently, much of the Southwest is experiencing an Exceptional Drought, as has been the case for much of the fall. And unfortunately, as the above precipitation outlooks show, while the Pacific Northwest will be wet over the next two weeks, areas in the Southwest that need water most will see continued aridity.