Northeast Drought Update

Posted August 20, 2026

U.S. Drought Monitor

Conditions deteriorated in northern New England, where precipitation continues to be lacking, while some southern areas saw improvement, particularly in West Virginia where significant rain fell last week. Moderate drought expanded in Maine, and abnormally dry conditions expanded in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. New York and southern New England saw small areas of improvement, with reductions in abnormally dry conditions. Severe drought was removed in two areas of southern Pennsylvania and northern Maryland and reduced in eastern Maryland. Moderate drought shrank in parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. Abnormally dry conditions were greatly reduced in West Virginia. The U.S. Drought Monitor released on August 20 showed less than 1% of the Northeast in extreme drought, 2% in severe drought, 14% in moderate drought, and 24% as abnormally dry compared to less than 1%, 3%, 12%, and 28%, respectively, last week. Noticing impacts from dry conditions in your area? Reports can be submitted online via the Condition Monitoring Observation Reports (CMOR) website.

For more information on drought in NY & New England see the Northeast DEWS Dashboard and to learn more about assessing drought in the United States watch this video.

Precipitation

Total precipitation for the last week.

Percent of normal precipitation for the last 30-day and 90-day periods.

Percent of normal precipitation for the last 6-month and 1-year periods.

Water Resources

As of August 18, much of the Northeast had normal or higher USGS 7-day streamflow including record-high flows in places like West Virginia and southeastern New York. However, below-normal or lower flows were found in several areas including north-central Maryland, southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, New York’s Long Island, northern Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, and Maine. Record-low flow was confined to only a few spots including coastal New Jersey, New York’s Long Island, and central Maine. USGS groundwater levels as of August 18 generally ranged from record low in several areas including parts of Maryland, central and southern New Jersey, and southern Maine to record high in spots like northern West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, western New York, and northern New Jersey. Water conservation continued to be encouraged in multiple locations, with some communities like Kittery, Maine, having mandatory water restrictions. A conditions report from coastal Maine noted that water levels were lower than usual in some locations. There have been a few reports of dry wells in Maine.

7-day average streamflow compared to historical streamflow from USGS WaterWatch

A network of wells to monitor the effects of droughts & other climate variability on groundwater levels. USGS Groundwater Data

Agriculture

A producer in northern Vermont noted that their corn crop was stunted and that they had to give cattle supplemental feed about a month earlier than usual due to slow pasture growth. Reports from Maine indicated pastures and lawns were turning brown, plants were suffering from moisture stress, trees were dropping leaves early, and water levels were declining.

State Declarations

Outlooks

Seven-day precipitation amounts are forecast to range from a quarter of an inch to over four inches. A strong cold front will bring the heaviest precipitation to areas from southern Maryland to eastern Massachusetts Thursday into Friday.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) 8-14 day outlook for August 27-September 2 slightly favors above-normal temperatures for the entire region. The outlook favors near-normal to above-normal precipitation with probabilities increasing toward the coast.

The maps on this page, and additional drought resources, can also be found on the Northeast DEWS Dashboard.