{"id":255409,"date":"2026-07-30T11:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255409\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T11:41:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:41:15","slug":"heat-prompts-drought-warning-alert-for-lehigh-three-other-pa-counties-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255409\/","title":{"rendered":"Heat prompts drought warning alert for Lehigh, three other Pa. counties"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lehigh County joins Berks, Lancaster and Lebanon in moving from drought watch status to drought warning after a task force meeting Monday found local conditions worsening, exacerbated by the impending heatwave.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecovery in southeastern Pennsylvania has been limited, and some areas continue to worsen. Several counties that showed improvement last month have shown declines. For this reason, we are recommending expanding the Drought Warning to four additional counties bordering the southeastern region,\u201d the Commonwealth Drought Task Force report said.<\/p>\n

Conditions in Northampton County are marginally better, leaving the eastern part of the valley in a drought watch status.<\/p>\n

Monthly precipitation has been below the 30-year average since October, with the exception of March. Hydrologists track water levels from October through September to reflect the natural cycles of water table replenishment and depletion. The June data in the graph below is for precipitation June 1-29.<\/p>\n

Less rainfall and more heat combine to cause more evaporation of soil moisture, meaning less water gets to the water table. Both Lehigh\u2019s and Northampton\u2019s observation wells have shown water retreating further below the surface after brief recoveries from March\u2019s substantial rainfall.<\/p>\n

The forecast from the National Weather Service holds little hope for more than trace amounts of rain in the next week outside possible thunderstorms. Sunday night has the best chance for rain, at 60% of the forecast coverage area. To counter that slight hope of relief, Friday\u2019s expected high temperature has been bumped from 101 to 102 degrees with a heat index from 105-110.<\/p>\n

Northampton\u2019s well, in Jacobsburg state park, was briefly above average in April, but has been declining since. The latest readings show that one has to drill more than 42 feet below ground to hit water, more than 10 feet deeper than the March 28 reading.<\/p>\n

Lehigh County\u2019s well in Upper Macungie Township has shown a similar slide. Water was found 65 feet below ground at the end of March, but was 74.8 feet underground as of Tuesday. The all-time average for the well is 55.5 feet, which has not been seen at all during the current water year.<\/p>\n

That disparity helped push Lehigh County to groundwater emergency status while Northampton County remains normal. All eight Pennsylvania counties in groundwater emergency status also have active drought warnings.<\/p>\n

\"Pennsylvania<\/p>\n

Pa. DEP<\/p>\n

Lehigh County is among 8 Pa. counties in a groundwater emergency status, helping to prompt the Department of Environmental Protection into declaring a drought warning for the county.<\/p>\n

The Lehigh County Authority, which relies on springs and wells as water sources in addition to the Little Lehigh Creek and the Lehigh River, continues to advise water conservation, asking customers to reduce consumption by 10%-15%.<\/p>\n

The gallery below shows the progression of drought conditions since October.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This county map of Eastern Pennsylvania shows local conditions from the National Integrated Drought Information System as of the date on the timeline in the lower right corner. Areas in yellow are abnormally dry; light orange signifies moderate drought; dark orange means severe drought; bright red indicates extreme drought; and, areas in dark read are in exceptional drought. Condition reports are updated weekly.(National Integrated Drought Information System)\n<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This county map of Eastern Pennsylvania shows local conditions from the National Integrated Drought Information System as of the date on the timeline in the lower right corner. Areas in yellow are abnormally dry; light orange signifies moderate drought; dark orange means severe drought; bright red indicates extreme drought; and, areas in dark read are in exceptional drought. Condition reports are updated weekly.(National Integrated Drought Information System)\n<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This county map of Eastern Pennsylvania shows local conditions from the National Integrated Drought Information System as of the date on the timeline in the lower right corner. Areas in yellow are abnormally dry; light orange signifies moderate drought; dark orange means severe drought; bright red indicates extreme drought; and, areas in dark read are in exceptional drought. Condition reports are updated weekly.(National Integrated Drought Information System)\n<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This county map of Eastern Pennsylvania shows local conditions from the National Integrated Drought Information System as of the date on the timeline in the lower right corner. Areas in yellow are abnormally dry; light orange signifies moderate drought; dark orange means severe drought; bright red indicates extreme drought; and, areas in dark read are in exceptional drought. Condition reports are updated weekly.(National Integrated Drought Information System)\n<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This county map of Eastern Pennsylvania shows local conditions from the National Integrated Drought Information System as of the date on the timeline in the lower right corner. Areas in yellow are abnormally dry; light orange signifies moderate drought; dark orange means severe drought; bright red indicates extreme drought; and, areas in dark read are in exceptional drought. Condition reports are updated weekly.(National Integrated Drought Information System)\n<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This county map of Eastern Pennsylvania shows local conditions from the National Integrated Drought Information System as of the date on the timeline in the lower right corner. Areas in yellow are abnormally dry; light orange signifies moderate drought; dark orange means severe drought; bright red indicates extreme drought; and, areas in dark read are in exceptional drought. Condition reports are updated weekly.(National Integrated Drought Information System)\n<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This county map of Eastern Pennsylvania shows local conditions from the National Integrated Drought Information System as of the date on the timeline in the lower right corner. Areas in yellow are abnormally dry; light orange signifies moderate drought; dark orange means severe drought; bright red indicates extreme drought; and, areas in dark read are in exceptional drought. Condition reports are updated weekly.(National Integrated Drought Information System)\n<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This county map of Eastern Pennsylvania shows local conditions from the National Integrated Drought Information System as of the date on the timeline in the lower right corner. Areas in yellow are abnormally dry; light orange signifies moderate drought; dark orange means severe drought; bright red indicates extreme drought; and, areas in dark read are in exceptional drought. Condition reports are updated weekly.(National Integrated Drought Information System)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 8<\/p>\n

This county map of Eastern Pennsylvania shows local conditions from the National Integrated Drought Information System as of the date on the timeline in the lower right corner. Areas in yellow are abnormally dry; light orange signifies moderate drought; dark orange means severe drought; bright red indicates extreme drought; and, areas in dark read are in exceptional drought. Condition reports are updated weekly.(National Integrated Drought Information System)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

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