Northeast News

Many Improvements but Some Deterioration
The U.S. Drought Monitor released on Thursday, August 6 showed drought and/or abnormally dry conditions improve in portions of the Mid-Atlantic, southeastern New York, and southern New England that received another week of ample rainfall. However, conditions deteriorated in parts of northern New England and northern New York where meaningful rainfall has been scarce. There were generally limited changes elsewhere in the region.

• Extreme drought was erased from the Delmarva Peninsula.
• Severe and/or moderate drought shrank in parts of southern New England, southeastern New York, and the Mid-Atlantic but expanded in parts of northern New England.
• Abnormal dryness eased in spots along a path from West Virginia to Massachusetts but was introduced or spread in northern New York, northeastern Vermont, and northern Maine.
• Record-low seven-day streamflow was confined to only a few spots like parts of Maine and coastal New Jersey.
• Groundwater levels were record low in several areas including parts of Maryland, southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, southeastern Massachusetts, and southern Maine.
• The short-term outlooks for August 11-15 predict above-normal precipitation for the entire Northeast. With cooler temperatures expected in northern areas, this could pause deterioration in some places and potentially bring improvements to others. Above-normal temperatures are favored for southern locations, which could potentially bring improvements to locations that see notable rainfall amounts or keep conditions unchanged in areas that see less.

For more information, see the Northeast DEWS Dashboard (to see the full Northeast, click on the grayed-out Pennsylvania in the map in the top left) and the Northeast Drought Update. Submit drought impact reports via the Condition Monitoring Observer Reports (CMOR) page.

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