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Despite more moisture in St. Lawrence County, all of NY state under drought watch

Posted 7/25/16

While much of St. Lawrence County’s unusually dry conditions abated a bit in recent weeks, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has issued a drought watch for the …

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Despite more moisture in St. Lawrence County, all of NY state under drought watch

Posted

While much of St. Lawrence County’s unusually dry conditions abated a bit in recent weeks, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has issued a drought watch for the entire state of New York.

Following consultation with the State Drought Management Task Force and Federal partner agencies, DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos issued the watch announcement.

"While most public water supplies are still generally normal throughout the state, below normal precipitation over the last nine months, low stream flows, and reduced groundwater levels have prompted the need for this action," Seggos said.

"We are encouraging residents throughout the state to conserve water whenever possible during the coming months."

All of St. Lawrence County had been designated as “unusually dry” in the National Drought Mitigation Center’s weekly map of drought conditions. But in the latest map, released last Thursday, an area of St. Lawrence County that had been designated as dry, roughly the northeastern third, is now clear of any drought designation. That area runs from the towns of Massena and Brasher in the north to upper Hopkinton and upper Colton in the south to Oswegatchie and DeKalb in the west.

The driest areas in the state are in Western to Central New York.

The latest drought map can be seen at http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?NY.

Average observed precipitation has been less than normal across the state with shortfalls of 4 to 8 inches common over the last 90 days. The dry weather dates back to the Oct. 1 start of the "water year" and is beginning to significantly affect other water metrics.

Stream flows and groundwater levels are well below normal throughout much of the state. Groundwater levels were seasonally worse in June compared to May and they are not expected to improve in the immediate future due to the existing precipitation deficit.