Two months of above-normal precipitation in Connecticut has convinced a coalition of state agencies to lift the drought watch that it issued last October, but officials warned that groundwater and streamflow in the state "remain vulnerable."
The drought watch was issued last autumn at a point when most of the state was suffering from nearly two years of below-average precipitation.
Nearly all Connecticut drinking water reservoirs have returned to normal capacity as a result of recent rains.
But members of the grpup noted that "streamflow and groundwater levels have demonstrated some volatility and remain vulnerable" this spring.
Last week, U.S. Drought Monitor experts noted that "groundwater levels remained unfavorably low" in areas of New England like Connecticut that suffered from the extended lack of precipitation.
The U.S. Drought Monitor, a collaboration between the federal government and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, tracks drought conditions across the country.
A large swath of eastern Connecticut and the shoreline are now considered entirely free of drought.
October 2016 was the first time the state interagency group had ever issued a drought watch.
But the two-year-drought used up much of the below-surface groundwater in Connecticut and experts say it will take many more weeks of normal rainfall to fully restore those aquifers and wells.
April was the first month since August of last year that sections of this state were classified as entirely drought-free by federal climate scientists.

The number of children fleeing violence and famine in South Sudan has passed 1 million, two U.N. agencies announced today.
Children make up more than 60 percent of the 1.8 million refugees from the world’s youngest country.
“The horrifying fact that nearly one in five children in South Sudan has been forced to flee their home illustrates how devastating this conflict has been for the country’s most vulnerable,” Leila Pakkala, UNICEF’s regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said in a statement.
While it may be the end of the drought, the higher risk of flooding puts the millions of people displaced from their homes at risk of water-borne illness.
Children are particularly vulnerable to dying from diarrhea caused by cholera or other bacteria in their drinking water.
Roughly 50 percent of the $181 million UNICEF needs to support South Sudan and its refugees for 2017 is available.
UNHCR, on the other hand, needs four times more money than UNICEF, but it’s budget only 11 percent funded.
It is particularly bad for girls, the survey found.
Some families face tough choices over which children can go to school, and it’s often the girls who must stay home, according to Plan International.
A hunger crisis that affects more than 40 percent of people in South Sudan adds a new lifelong risk for children.

Where they eat water lilies to survive: South Sudan’s remote islands – in pictures.
Last week I travelled by airplane, then by helicopter, and finally via canoe to reach some of the most remote communities on Earth; the inhabitants of the tiny islands scattered across South Sudan’s vast swampland known as the Sudd.
Welcome to the Sudd, one of the world’s largest wetlands.
We can expect communities outside of Nyal and those on the islands to have even fewer resources as they are further removed from economic centres, education and health services.
Due to its relative safety at present, people have fled here from the active fighting and famine conditions in Leer and Meyandit counties.
We set up nutrition stations near the mobile medical units so that people can access primary healthcare and nutrition services in one complete package.
IMC’s nutrition team saw a child with severe acute malnutrition.
We took to the canoes to assess the island populations.
Apart from fish and water lilies, we did not see other food across the three islands.
One of our first priorities will be to provide de- worming medication to the island communities.

Typically, the rain gauge at Lake Ogletree, Auburn’s primary water source, reaches nearly 15 inches between February and March.
This year, only 9.4 inches fell on the lake, according to Eric Carson, Auburn’s Water Resource Management director.
The Auburn Water Works Board enacted a Phase I drought watch April 21, issuing voluntary restrictions for water customers.
Along with dryer-than-usual conditions, the department is rounding out construction of a new spillway to replace the original 75-year-old one.
Usage also shot up earlier than usual this year, adding to the need for the drought watch, Carson said.
Warmer weather affecting lake The lake will continue to drop as warmer weather continues, allowing workers to finish concrete work on the spillway within the next four to six weeks.
“We’re not going to call the watch off.
We may not, it just all depends how the weather and the summer demands go.” Carson asked customers to simply “use water wisely” to benefit the whole community.
“ For some reason, a lot of people like to water on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and our demand will go through the roof on those days,” Carson said.
The city also released its 2016 Consumer Confidence Report that notifies customers about the quality and safety of their drinking water.

Woolley estimates that, by the end of this year, the herd will be back to predrought numbers.
Lucas Pope is vineyard manager at Halter Ranch Vineyard in Paso Robles.
Most of the time, the foliage grows back, but stumping interrupts a tree’s fruit production for two to four years.
If normal rainfall continues next season, he said, he may replant 20 to 40 acres of trees.
“The rain did not come as hoped, but the timing of the rain that did fall was perfect,” she said.
Yields last year inched up about 5 percent over the previous year.
“Because we replanted, grafted and pruned last year, we are in a very good position this year,” she said.
Photos by Joe Johnston jjohnston@thetribunenews.com “In total, we are able to supply about half of our irrigation water from these two systems,” he said.
Joe Johnston jjohnston@thetribunenews.com About 40 acres of Hass avocados planted on the windswept hilltop at Morro Ranch had to be let go because there wasn’t enough water during the drought.
Joe Johnston jjohnston@thetribunenews.com Will Woolley of Templeton Hills Beef walks among the green grasses of the ranch.

Northview baseball trying to end 40-year title drought.
Using the motto “Win the day,” the Northview baseball team hopes to do that often enough down the stretch this season to end a 40-year drought.
We can be down 3-0 after the first inning, and they’re still playing and having fun.” Northview’s team leaders are the senior trio of Shane Banachowski and Nick Wyatt, who are each in the their fourth varsity seasons, and Mark Gilliland, who is in his third varsity year.
Banachowski, who plays first base and bats third, leads the team with a .404 batting average.
“The number one goal of the team is to win the day,” Banachowski said.
“Yes, we want to win the league and win the district and go places.
“Of course we want to win the league,” Gilliland said.
Northview ended with a school record for wins (20-9 overall record) in 2015, and finished 17-11 (7-7 NLL) last year.
“It felt nice being part of a family as a team, and I see the same thing happening this year.” “That year we had a good group of seniors leading us,” Banachowski said.
“Besides the hitting, he’s also helped the team a ton mentally,” Wyatt said of Runnells.

Speakers at the Irrigated Agriculture in Arizona Conference, from left, included meteorologist Paul Brown, University of Arizona, Tucson; plus Arizona farmers Arnott Duncan, Duncan Family Farms, Goodyear; and Terry and Ramona Button, Ramona Farms, Sacaton.
Entrepreneurial ways to survive Half a dozen farmers took to the podium at the Irrigated Ag event to discuss their farming plans and strategies to share their efforts in water conservation and cropping systems, including Central Arizona farmers Arnott Duncan of Duncan Family Farms based at Goodyear and Dan Thelander of Tempe Farm Company who farms around Maricopa.
“During the winter, we turn on the same sprinklers to help control frost.” Water is also used to “lubricate the soil.” Since harvest occurs one-half inch above the soil line, the wet soil helps reduce the amount of field removed with the crop at harvest.
“Trying to hold water and nutrients in the soil is greatly enhanced by increasing the organic matter.” Today, Duncan’s water conservation practices utilize a high pressure main line manifold irrigation system with sprinkler valves pre-set for the right distance to provide the highest application efficiency.
In the future, Duncan Farms aims to save additional water by using plant and soil sensors to automate irrigation events.
“The potential for water shortage is something that we are definitely very worried about and are trying to plan for,” said Thelander who then asked, “How do you plan for water shortages?” This year’s Thelander cropping system includes about 1,600 acres of Desert Durum wheat; 2,200 acres of alfalfa including 400 acres in drip irrigation; and 250 acres of guayule (natural rubber plant) farmed with drip.
About 1,000 acres of cotton includes about 400 acres each irrigated by drip and furrow, plus about 200 acres of double cropped cotton following wheat.
Thelander says alfalfa prices have dropped $50-$75 per ton over the last several years; the wheat price is down $400 per hundredweight; and the cotton price is up.
However, Thelander quipped that the higher cotton price around 70 cents per pound at press time was the same cotton price when he started farming more than 40 years ago.
Thelander says, “If a farmer can grow a higher water use crop that’s also a high value crop then the farmer might be able to fallow acres to irrigate the more profitable crop.” Overall, the end result could be, even with fallowed land, an overall profit.

“A lot of hard work from (crew chief) Brian Pattie, Steve (Newmark) and Jack (Rousch) and everybody at the shop to continue to put race cars out there and continue to give us the resources, and man, it’s awesome to finally finish it off.” Looking back at the journey leading up to his first win, Stenhouse hopes it paves the way for a similar path taken by fellow Ford Performance driver Joey Logano.
I just needed to find the speed in the cars and get the organizational prowess to be able to do timely development that was acceptable to NASCAR, and I knew it would come together.” The win was special in more ways than one for Stenhouse, as he paid tribute to late friend Bryan Clauson in Victory Lane.
“This year, every race we’re getting better and better,” Stenhouse said.
“We knew that Talladega was a good race track for us.
And that’s just the legacy I feel like Bryan left upon all of us.” Another cool moment for Stenhouse was when girlfriend, Stewart-Haas Racing driver Danica Patrick, joined him in the victory celebration.
She’s been so supportive and knows how hard that I’ve worked, and to have her there was really awesome.” Stenhouse and the No.
“My confidence has been really high all year,” Stenhouse said.
“We know what race tracks we need to work on.
“We’re continuing to strive to make our cars better,” he added.
“I feel confident that guys back at the shop, Brian and everyone, there’s not many teams that pay attention to the details I feel like that the No.

Thames Ends Home Run Drought As Brewers Beat Pirates 6-2.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Eric Thames broke out of his slump with a home run and three hits, sending the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
Travis Shaw and Jesus Aguilar also went deep for Milwaukee.
Thames connected for a solo shot in the ninth inning off Johnny Barbato, his first homer in 10 games after hitting 11 in his first 20 games.
He previously played in the majors with Toronto and Seattle.
Zach Davies (3-2) won his third straight decision as the Brewers avoided being swept in the three-game series.
He allowed two runs and four hits in 5 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts.
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Daly’s 13-year drought finally over with Champions Tour win.
John Daly ended a 13-year drought when he posted his first victory on the 50-and-over Champions Tour on Sunday, a one-stroke triumph at the Insperity Invitational in Texas.
"It’s awesome," Daly told Golf Channel after being doused in champagne on the 18th green.
"Hey, a win’s a win.
I hung in there and did the best I could.
That’s all that matters."
Daly, nicknamed ‘Wild Thing’ by the British tabloids back in the 1990s due to his hard-partying lifestyle, won five times on the PGA Tour, including two major championships, the 1991 PGA and 1995 British Open.
Daly was the longest hitter on tour for the first part of his career, in an era before metal-headed drivers became commonplace.
He had not won on the PGA Tour since 2004, losing a playoff to Tiger Woods at the 2005 WGC-American Express Championship.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina)