The U.S. Drought Monitor released on Thursday, October 15 showed drought and/or abnormally dry conditions improved in portions of the Mid-Atlantic and southern New England but deteriorated in parts of New York and northern New England over the past week. There were generally limited changes elsewhere in the region.

• Severe drought expanded in northern Maine.
• Moderate drought was introduced in central New York and expanded in northern Vermont but contracted in southeastern New Hampshire, northeastern Massachusetts, southern Pennsylvania, central Maryland, and eastern West Virginia.
• Abnormal dryness grew in coverage in Vermont, New York, and northwestern Pennsylvania but was erased in sections of Massachusetts, Connecticut, southern Pennsylvania, and eastern West Virginia.
• Record-low seven-day streamflow was present in places like Maine, northern Vermont, and northern New York.
• Groundwater levels were record low in several areas including southern Maine, southeastern Massachusetts, southeastern New Jersey, and southern Maryland.
• The short-term outlooks for October 20-24 predict below-normal precipitation and near- to above-normal temperatures for most of the Northeast, conditions that warrant observation for possible deterioration in some northern parts of the Northeast.

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.