Northeast Drought Status

Drought Persists
Most of the Northeast saw less than an inch of precipitation over the past week, with streamflow and/or groundwater levels dropping in some locations. Drought remained entrenched in an area from Maryland up to eastern Maine, as well as parts of West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. In fact, the only change this week was a slight expansion of severe drought in southeastern Maryland. Precipitation deficits for some sites along the Interstate 95 corridor in the Mid-Atlantic generally range from 1 to 3 inches below normal for the December 1 to January 21 period. However, these sites have notable precipitation deficits at longer time scales. For example, deficits for the September 1 and January 21 period include 6.20 inches below normal in Washington, D.C., 8.53 inches below normal in Baltimore, 10.10 inches below normal in Wilmington, 9.75 inches below normal in Philadelphia, and 8.91 inches in Newark.

• Extreme (D3) drought persisted in New Jersey and Delaware.
• Severe (D2) drought expanded slightly in southeastern Maryland and lingered in areas along a path from Maryland to Massachusetts.
• Moderate (D1) drought remained in parts of all 12 Northeast states.
• Abnormal dryness (D0) was unchanged from last week, covering portions of most states.
• Record low streamflow was present in the region’s southeastern corner, with much below normal flows found in 10 states.
• Record low groundwater levels were seen at sites across the Northeast.
• Reservoir levels in New Jersey generally leveled off or declined slightly, remaining near or below average.
• Many of the places experiencing the most intense drought conditions are expected to see near-normal precipitation for the 6-10 day period (January 28-February 1), meaning conditions may remain status quo for another week.

The NRCC’s full weekly drought update can be found here.

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