Berks County officially came off drought warning status Oct. 2 when the Commonwealth Drought Task Force met. It now is classified as drought watch status, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
The DEP considers four key indicators: stream flow, groundwater levels, precipitation and soil moisture in determining drought status, according to the DEP website.
Berks is one of five counties in the state to be in a drought watch. Lehigh County dropped down to watch status as well, while Chester, Lancaster and Lebanon counties dropped to normal status Oct. 2 according to the DEP website update Oct. 8.
“I opine it would not be prudent to remove the drought alert completely because it takes a while to climb out of a drought,” said Jeffrey R. Stoudt, a former meteorologist, Berks weather historian and founder of the Berks Area Rainfall Networks.
The rains that arrived as the remnants of Hurricane Isaias moved through Berks on Sunday will help replenish surface water, which is still down significantly for the year.
According to Berks Area Rainfall Networks, as of Monday morning, the previous 24 hours precipitation ranged from a low of 1.42 inches at a station in Fleetwood to a high of 2.49 inches in Bernville. Reading was listed at 2.3 inches.
More than 2 inches of rain was recorded at 11 of the 20 stations in BARN.
“Two or three more rainstorms of this magnitude or four to six of half this magnitude might be needed to bring both surface and deep water supplies back to normal or better,” Stoudt said in an email. “Sunday’s rainstorm replenished near-surface moisture needs but would not be enough to recharge deeper supplies that are really low.”
“Average annual precipitation totals for diverse locations in Berks County range from 45 to 55 inches,” Stoudt said. “The updated running 365-day total after considering Sunday’s soaking climbed to 41.52 inches.”