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A Northeast Regional Climate Center analysis of September precipitation in the Northeast revealed that the vast majority of the region had a rainfall deficit last month.<\/p>\n
Will Waldron\/Times Union<\/p>\n
After an overall dry end of summer and start to fall for New York and the Northeast, some significant rain finally fell this week for portions of the region.<\/p>\n
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New York had its eighth driest August and 28th driest summer on record. Albany was unusually dry<\/a> this summer, too, reporting its third driest August and 27th driest summer on record. Did the recent rain help alleviate the drought conditions that were exacerbated in September?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Drought deepened during summer, early fall<\/p>\n Drought conditions in the Northeast expanded and intensified rapidly over the summer. Less than 1% of the region was experiencing a moderate drought in early July, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.<\/a> Now nearly 63% of the Northeast is in at least a moderate drought.<\/p>\n More: Drought has muted this year’s leaf-peeping season, but pockets of brilliant colors remain<\/a><\/p>\n The dry pattern that we saw most of this summer spilled over into the first month of meteorological fall. A Northeast Regional Climate Center analysis<\/a> of September precipitation in the Northeast reveals that the vast majority of the region had a rainfall deficit last month.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Departure from normal rainfall for September.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy Northeast Regional Climate Center<\/p>\n Only four of the 35 major climate sites reported above-average rainfall for the month of September. That means nearly 89% of the sites received less rainfall than normal. For nine of the sites, their September precipitation ranked among the location\u2019s 20 driest Septembers on record.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rainfall totals from 8 a.m. Saturday through 8 a.m. Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy National Weather Service<\/p>\n The first nor\u2019easter of the season brought strong winds and heavy rain to portions of the Northeast. The storm whipped up wind gusts as high as 57 mph in Eatons Neck<\/a>. More importantly, the nor\u2019easter brought some much-needed rain to the region. The southeastern corner of the state, along with Long Island, reported rainfall amounts between 1 and 3 inches. Some spots in Suffolk County were soaked with more than 3 inches, including\u00a0Centereach (3.02 inches), Commack (3.09 inches) and Port Jefferson Station (3.47 inches).<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Drought Eased Slightly For Most<\/p>\n The latest U.S. Drought Monitor report<\/a> reveals that drought conditions diminished dramatically for the Capital Region, but only a slight improvement was seen overall at the state and regional levels.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last week, nearly 97% of Albany County was in a moderate drought, level two out of five. The latest analysis shows that although the entire county is considered \u201cabnormally dry,\u201d none of it is currently in a moderate drought. Albany has reported 1.93 inches of rain for this month so far, compared to the average of 1.94 inches by this time of the month.<\/p>\n Drought conditions in New York as of Tuesday.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy U.S. Drought Monitor<\/p>\n At the state level, the drought improved a bit, but most of the state is still enduring unusually dry conditions. The percentage of the state experiencing at least a moderate drought has dropped by almost 5% compared to last week. The latest report shows 61.47% of New York is in at least a moderate drought, down from 65.97% last week. It should be noted that the area of the state experiencing a severe drought, level three out of five, has risen by nearly 3%, but the percentage of the state in an extreme drought, level four out of five, dropped by more than half.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Drought conditions in the Northeast as of Tuesday.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy U.S. Drought Monitor<\/p>\n There was also some small improvement at the regional level. The percentage of the region experiencing at least moderate drought fell to 62.68% this week, down 1.46% compared to last week. The area of the region in a severe to extreme drought increased slightly over the past week. Live map: Real-time weather across New York<\/a><\/p>\n Temperature tracker: Is today\u2019s weather normal?<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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While these overall improvements are welcomed, New York and the Northeast need a lot more rain to make a significant difference in drought conditions. The good news is that rain chances will ramp up late this weekend into early next week.<\/p>\n