{"id":570791,"date":"2026-04-08T00:45:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T00:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/570791\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T00:45:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T00:45:27","slug":"contiguous-u-s-facing-most-widespread-severe-drought-since-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/570791\/","title":{"rendered":"Contiguous U.S. facing most widespread severe drought since 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

While there seemingly hasn’t been much of a shortage of precipitation here locally so far this spring, it’s been a much different story for other parts of the country. Last week’s update to the USGS Drought Monitor revealed a further spike in many drought categories for the lower 48, with a now whopping 80% now under some sort of designation. <\/p>\n

\"U.S.U.S. Drought Monitor updated Thursday April 2nd, 2026 (WJAR)<\/p>\n

It’s not just all low-end drought either, as ~ 35% of the contiguous U.S. is currently in a severe drought or worse (levels 2-5). This marks the highest percent area covered by severe drought since back in November of 2022. <\/p>\n

\"DroughtDrought stats and observations (WJAR)<\/p>\n

Areas dealing with the worst drought include the Rockies and much of the Southeast. These locations have had water restrictions put in place in an effort to conserve ahead of the warm season. Colorado is coming off one of the lowest snowpacks in recorded history while the state of Florida is seeing the worst drought locally since 2011. <\/p>\n

Shifting gears now to the Northeast, we have seen some specific area fare much worse than others. A large area of severe drought remains prevalent for the northern half of New England, while on the other hand much of Rhode Island and Connecticut have been more fortunate overall. <\/p>\n

\"NortheastNortheast drought conditions (WJAR)<\/p>\n

Those looking to head north to the mountains and woods come Memorial Day weekend in a month may still see burning restrictions as was the case through the past fall season. <\/p>\n

More locally speaking, nearly all regional cities have been below average in terms of precipitation since the start of the New Year. The reason behind the different designations, however, is the magnitude of departure from normal. While Providence only remains about an inch below average for precipitation this year, the deficit in Boston is much more substantial. <\/p>\n

\"Year-to-date<\/p>\n

Year-to-date precipitation for Providence and Boston (WJAR)<\/p>\n

It’s important to keep in mind how drought information is determined. Multiple government agencies come together to look at long term precipitation, soil conditions, and streamflow trends to put out the weekly drought monitor, and it can really take quite some time to bust a drought. Larger long term precipitation deficits statistically speaking are directly correlated to the highlighted areas and levels below. <\/p>\n

\"DroughtDrought evolution over the past year (WJAR)<\/p>\n

In comparison to the same time last year, there is a more notable area of moderate drought that expands into Bristol County, MA. This falls in line with the greater precipitation departure also in New Bedford in comparison to Providence over the past 4 months. Nantucket remains in a severe drought as has been the case over the past half-year. <\/p>\n

Despite much of the viewing area not seeing any major effects of drought at this time, this will be something to watch closely this spring. As the spring breezes dry out the dead winter vegetation, wildfire risk will inherently go up until things start to green up. While the next several days look dry, the addition of any rainfall this month will help ground conditions stay damp and green up faster.<\/p>\n

\"CPCCPC three month precipitation outlook (WJAR)<\/p>\n

Florida is also expected to see some beneficial rainfall this week which should help chip away at their issues, but sustained rainy periods will be needed to really help out. On the other hand, the CPC’s three month precipitation outlook does not look great for Colorado and parts of the west as we dive into the growing and spring wildfire season. <\/p>\n

Definitely enjoy the dryness of this week (post today) after the soggy Easter Holiday, but don’t wish for too much of it! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While there seemingly hasn’t been much of a shortage of precipitation here locally so far this spring, it’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-570791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}