View Slideshow 1 of 2 This fall the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, issued a drought watch for much of the WMRA listening area, and a number of localities from Winchester to Charlottesville encouraged — or mandated — their residents to conserve water.
Scott Kudlas is the director of the DEQ’s Office of Water Supply.
In Winchester, which is in the Shenandoah drought evaluation region, officials issued a drought watch back at the end of September, said Perry Eisenach, the city’s public services director.
This is actually the second year in a row that we’ve done that.
At the end of October the city’s water supplies from Dry River/Switzer Dam and North River were reportedly well above levels of concern.
Lexington is not in one of the DEQ’s regions under a drought watch, and didn’t have any rationing efforts in place.
The Rivanna Reservoir, which suffered that drastic water level drop, is the sole provider to one of the area’s two water treatment plants, so the area was first requested to voluntarily conserve water, and later, placed under mandatory restrictions.
Mawyer said that the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority anticipates that mandatory water restrictions will continue until “high water levels have been sustained in the reservoir for an extended period.” Charlottesville’s director of utilities Lauren Hildebrand said last week that recent rainfall has helped substantially.
Looking further ahead, Scott Kudlas of the DEQ said what we don’t need is a second dry winter.
Last winter was very, very dry, but then we got above normal precipitation right at the end of the recharge period in the late winter, early spring, you know, that might help again, but what we’ve seen in the past is when we have more than one winter in a row that has a low recharge period, it makes it really challenging in the summertime.

Recent heavy rains have washed away any abnormally dry or drought conditions across Connecticut.
Last week, U.S. Drought Monitor had more than 82 percent of the state with moderate drought conditions On Thursday, it removed all drought and abnormally dry conditions from the Connecticut map.. Of course, you don’t need an agency lik Drought Monitor to tell us why.
Rain, lots of it.
“More than 4 inches of rain (locally to 12 inches) fell on much of New England, especially from Long Island, Connecticut, and Rhode Island northward through Massachusetts, eastern Vermont, New Hampshire, and much of Maine,” it said.
“The rains were quite beneficial as it fell on areas that had recently gone into moderate drought and had lingering long-term deficits going back as far as one to two years.” On Oct. 29-30, southwest Connecticut was swamped with heavy rain.
Rainfall totals included nearly 6 inches in Monroe and Shelton.
Communuties from Greenwich to Newtown received between 4 and 5 inches from that storm.
The week before, on Oct. 24, more than 4 inches of rain fell in Stratford and Shelton.
Sikorsky Memorial Airport recorded 7.37 inches of rain in October – nearby double the average for the month.

Lt. Gov.
Mike Cooney, DNRC director John Tubbs and other leaders were on hand to talk about this year’s conditions and about how they can improve their response to future droughts.
Syner said the National Weather Service expects Montana’s drought to improve through the winter.
They are predicting higher than average precipitation in most of the state due to the La Niña weather pattern.
Still, a number of counties in northeastern Montana remain extremely dry.
State leaders are still getting reports from people affected by the drought, especially in agriculture.
That report and others have come in through the committee’s online Drought Impacts Reporter.
“When we start seeing many reports in a given area, especially when they’re specific, then that gives us a better idea of, ‘Wow, there’s something going on there that we need to pay attention to.’” Downey said the data from the Drought Impact Reporter helps leaders better understand the conditions on the ground.
They will also take that information and share it with the agencies that put together federal drought monitors.
The advisory committee will hold its next meeting in March.

Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney, DNRC Director John Tubbs, and other leaders were on hand to talk about this year’s conditions and how they can improve their response to future droughts.
Syner said the National Weather Service expects Montana’s drought to improve through the winter.
They are predicting higher than average precipitation in most of the state due to the La Niña weather pattern.
Still, a number of counties in northeastern Montana remain extremely dry.
Tubbs said parts of Montana have a deficit of nearly a year’s worth of moisture.
State leaders are still getting reports from people affected by the drought especially in agriculture.
That report and others have come in through the committee’s online Drought Impacts Reporter.
“When we start seeing many reports in a given area, especially when they’re specific, then that gives us a better idea of, ‘Wow, there’s something going on there that we need to pay attention to.’” Downey said the data from the Drought Impact Reporter helps leaders better understand the conditions on the ground.
They will also take that information and share it with the agencies that put together federal drought monitors.
The advisory committee will hold its next meeting in March.

TUCSON – From a lofty rainfall surplus to teetering on the edge of deficit in a span of a few months.
Tucson’s 2017 rainfall was running a 3.40” surplus on August 13th, according to 4WARN Meteorologist Jeff Beamish.
Further, the last measurable rainfall in Tucson was a mere 0.03” on September 8th.
As of November 2nd, Tucson’s yearly rainfall surplus has crashed to only 0.05”.
So why has it been so dry since a record wet July?
The answer is twofold.
In addition, the storm track during October was well north of Arizona, keeping the Grand Canyon state warm and dry.
Drought’s coming back in a big way across AZ.
#azwx #KVOAwx pic.twitter.com/SIDhNRRP2x — Jeff Beamish (@jeffbeamish) November 2, 2017 With the rainfall surplus drying up, the Arizona drought is starting to increase.
As of November 2nd, severe drought areas include portions of Pima, Santa Cruz and Cochise Counties.

By Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press PORTLAND, Maine — Drought conditions, recent rainfall and an unusual storm path in Maine may have contributed to the large numbers of trees that toppled during a storm that walloped the Northeast this week, officials said.
Because of dry conditions, the trees’ roots weren’t healthy, and ground conditions and foliage that remained on the trees made them more susceptible to wind, said Peter Rogers, acting director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency.
The driest conditions are along the coast, where the wind gusts were the strongest.
Maine’s two major utilities were still reporting more than 200,000 customers without power Wednesday afternoon.
Across the Northeast, a more than 440,000 people were still without power Wednesday.
Some Rhode Island officials said it was taking too long for the state’s main electric utility, National Grid, to restore power.
The scope of the damage in Maine made comparisons to the 1998 ice storm inevitable.
Roger Pomerleau turned his business into a makeshift shelter after the ice storm, allowing employees of his home furnishings store to use the washing machines and refrigerators while their homes were without power.
“The temperature is in our favor right now.
Those were cold temperatures back then,” Pomerleau said.

Most of the Sacramento Valley will get at least a half-inch of rain over the weekend, with heavier rainfall expected in Auburn, Placerville and Oroville, the National Weather Service said Thursday.
Light rain was expected to begin in the Sacramento area by Thursday evening, with heavier precipitation forecast for late Friday into Saturday.
The weather service said a slight chance of rain was expected for Sunday and Monday.
Another storm was expected to hit the region next Thursday.
Up to an inch of rain was forecast for fire-ravaged communities like Santa Rosa and Redwood Valley, where officials feared that precipitation could do more harm than good.
California went through La Niña conditions last winter – and wound up with the rainiest season on record in the northern half of the state.
His long-range forecast for the season?
The city of Sacramento’s winter watering schedule, which began Wednesday, restricts outdoor watering to once a week, either Saturday or Sunday.
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That’s only the fourth time that’s happened since we started keeping records for Phoenix in 1896.
The U.S. Drought Monitor releases an update on drought conditions every Thursday.
Here’s what this week’s update looks like.
Nearly 80 percent of the state is abnormally dry.
That’s a big jump from just 25 percent of the state just a week ago.
Last week, no part of the state was in the severe drought category.
This week, 2 percent of Arizona — down in the southernmost part of the state — is in the severe category.
But it’s been persistently dry and warm for the last several months, with a weaker-than-normal monsoon season that ended early for Arizona.
There’s also higher likelihood that we’ll have warmer-than-average temperatures in the desert Southwest during that time frame.
But at this point, our next chance of rain is a storm that is forecast to move in next Monday and Tuesday.

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AGAWAM, Mass.
But some much needed rain has fallen over the last couple of weeks.
“I thought it was wonderful because we really needed it, soaked the ground so we won’t have any problems I thought it was wonderful,” said Peggy Sarno of Longmeadow.
According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor the drought is over.
During the month of October we picked up more than 8 inches of rain and for the year we now have a rainfall surplus of almost 5 inches.
Along the Connecticut River in Agawam water levels are much higher than they were just recently.
Area rivers did rise quite a bit after the rain this past weekend and the current is still pretty strong.
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Portland, Maine — Drought conditions, recent rainfall and an unusual storm path in Maine may have contributed to the large numbers of trees that toppled during a storm that walloped the Northeast this week, officials said.
The storm cut power to nearly 1.5 million homes and businesses in the region at its peak.
It left more Mainers in the dark than even the infamous 1998 ice storm, but the long-term effects likely will be much different.
The driest conditions are along the coast, where the wind gusts were the strongest.
“It was kind of a perfect storm,” Rogers said.
But they said favorable weather and extra crews will allow them to complete the task of restoring power this weekend.
Across the Northeast, more than 440,000 people were still without power Wednesday.
In Maine, nor’easters create northeastern winds, and thunderstorms blow in from the west and north, but these powerful winds came from the southeast, Livingston said.
And the winds were exceptionally powerful, with four times the force of a common wind storm, he said.
“These are lot of different conditions that have come together.