Update on Drought in New England and the Northeast

5 min readJul 17, 2022

How dry is it in New England and the Northeast?

Pretty dry or somewhat dry in many areas, but not nearly as dry so far as in 2020, 2016 or 20 years ago.

“Persistent dryness resulted in expansion of abnormal dryness and moderate drought and the introduction of severe drought” in the Northeast, the National Centers for Environmental Information tweeted Thursday.

Dry June in Much of New England and the Spread of Moderate Drought

“Conditions deteriorated in the Northeast this week due to increasing short-term precipitation deficits, declining soil moisture and much-below-normal streamflow and groundwater levels,” according to a July 14 drought update on the Northeast Regional Climate Center website.

Bridgeport in Connecticut received just 0.05 inches of rain from July 1 to 15 —3 percent of normal and its driest such period on record, according to the center.

As of 8 a.m. on July 12, 1 percent of the Northeast was in a severe drought (vs. 1.47 percent a year ago), 20.42 percent was in a moderate drought (vs. 12.85 percent a year ago) and 46.92 percent was abnormally dry (vs. 30.11 percent a year ago), according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Some agencies urged folks to take steps to conserve water.

For example, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services urges the public, community water systems and municipalities to impose outdoor water use restrictions to protect public water supplies and residential well supplies. Restrictions should include limiting lawn watering to before 8 a.m. and after 7 p.m. and to odd and even days, according to a July 14 news release.

“Drought conditions are likely to persist. Precipitation outlooks indicate that the volume of rain needed to alleviate drought conditions in the next few months is unlikely to materialize,” the release says. “Also, temperature outlooks are signaling a potential for higher-than-normal temperatures, which can exacerbate drought conditions.”

It appears that meager relief is on the immediate horizon.

“Little drought relief is expected through the extended (period) due to a lack of widespread, significant rainfall,” according to the National Weather Service office that covers New Hampshire and western Maine. “However, showers and thunderstorms are expected Monday afternoon and Monday night as an area of pressure moves through the area. A few storms may be strong to severe and contain locally heavy rainfall. Hot and humid weather (are) expected around the middle of next week.”

While there’s a good chance it will be warmer than normal in the Northeast later this month into mid-August, it may also be wetter than normal in some areas, according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.

More images, including a few of my photos this week in the beautiful but arid Loma Alta Preserve in Marin County, California (the San Francisco Bay area):