overview
- Much of the Northeast is in drought after an unusually dry and warm start to autumn.
- Nationally, October was one of the driest months on record.
- Fires are burning in New Jersey and Connecticut, and the fire danger remains high.
The dryness and unseasonably warm weather in the Northeast has pushed much of the region into drought, sparking wildfires in New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
October ended as one of the driest months on record in the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Precipitation was particularly low in the northeast.
Cities such as Philadelphia. Newark, New Jersey. Wilmington, Delaware. And Norfolk, Virginia, recorded no rain at all in October. Southeast Regional Climate Center collects precipitation data from more than 1,400 weather stations across the country. Several cities, including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., set new records for consecutive days without any measurable precipitation in October.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (via AP)
“This is an area that is not typically associated with drought,” said Benjamin Cook, a part-time researcher at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York. “It's not very common for really severe drought conditions to last this long.”
The drought continues into the first week of November, leaving much of the region in a “severe” drought. US Drought Monitor tracks the national situation and publishes weekly color-coded maps showing the extent and intensity of the drought.
The Drought Monitor's latest maps released Thursday showed drought conditions extending from Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York to Massachusetts and Maine. Dry conditions have intensified in some states, with parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland currently in “extreme” drought.
“Extreme drought is basically a once-in-25-year type of drought,” says Brian, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and one of the mapmakers for the U.S. Drought Monitor.・Mr. Fuchs says. .
Drought watches and warnings have been issued in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, asking people to voluntarily reduce their water use.
Part of the region's dry and warmer-than-usual weather is due to a strong high-pressure system that has remained over much of the country for several weeks. In the Northeast, Great Lakes, and South, temperatures were 15 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for late October and early November.
More than half of the continental United States is experiencing some degree of drought. That includes 56% of the Northeast, according to the Drought Monitor.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
