Drought impact unchanged by recent rain
Courtesy: U.S. Drought Monitor/ October 6
For the third straight week, the organization that tracks and evaluates drought conditions across the country on Thursday announced no changes to its drought classifications for Massachusetts, keeping 52.13 percent of the state under the "extreme" drought category.
More than 98 percent of the state is experiencing a "moderate" drought or worse, and the remaining bit of the state, near North Adams, is "abnormally dry," according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The update comes as Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton is weighing recommendations made Wednesday by the state's Drought Management Task Force.
The task force activated its drought management plan for the first time this year in its roughly 16-year history, according to Assistant EEA Secretary Dan Sieger. The scope of the drought as reported by the Drought Monitor, which worsened each week since May, has not changed since mid-September.
The state has been under its own official drought declaration since July 1 and groundwater levels remain low across the entire state, streamflow conditions are "dreadful" and tropical weather systems that typically shower New England with rainfall this time of year have not materialized, task force members said.
To counteract the effects of the drought and to "get us even close to normal," Massachusetts needs as much as a foot of rainfall, a National Weather Service meteorologist told the task force Wednesday.
The task force on Wednesday recommended that Energy and Environment Secretary Matthew Beaton elevate the western region of the state from a drought advisory to a drought watch, and elevate the Connecticut River Valley from a drought watch to a drought warning. The task force suggested that Beaton keep the other regions in the same category they are in currently.
If Beaton accepts the task force's recommendations, the drought classifications would be:
- Western Mass. -- Drought Watch
- CT River Valley -- Drought Warning
- Central Mass. -- Drought Warning
- Northeast Mass. -- Drought Warning
- Southeastern Mass. -- Drought Warning
- Cape Cod and the Islands -- Drought Watch
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