Despite the wet weather, a level three drought has been declared for the Northern region.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Resource Operations and Rural Development, stream flows in the central and northern regions of British Columbia are well below normal and continue to decline.
Because of this, the Upper Fraser East, Nechako and Peace regions are being elevated from drought level two, dry, to drought level three, very dry.
The Northwest, Upper Fraser West, Middle Fraser and the Central Coast regions are all currently at drought level three.
The Stikine and Skeena-Nass regions remain at drought level four, extremely dry.
There is a risk of drought continuing into next year if freeze-up in these regions occurs before streams, soil moisture and groundwater levels recharge.
The Ministry says level three drought conditions call for “voluntary water-use reductions,” if those are not sufficient, they may consider regulating water usage under the Water Sustainability Act.
Residential, agricultural and industrial water users who are located within municipalities and regional districts are encouraged to observe local water conservation bylaws where they exist

Despite a rainy start to October, lower-than-normal streamflows are causing the B.C.
government to increase drought restrictions in northern parts of the province.
The Upper Fraser East, Nechako and Peace regions are being elevated from drought Level 2 to drought Level 3, which is classified as very dry, according to a statement from the province Tuesday.
The Northwest, Upper Fraser West, Middle Fraser and the Central Coast regions are all currently at drought Level 3.
If voluntary reductions of water use are not sufficient to maintain flows above critical levels, the ministry may consider regulating water usage under the Water Sustainability Act.
Specific actions could include the temporary suspension of water licences or short-term water approvals to restore flows to minimum critical levels in the affected streams.
If freeze-up in these regions occurs before streams, soil moisture and groundwater levels recharge, there is a risk of drought continuing into next year, the province said.
While cooler weather in these regions has improved stream temperatures and reduced stress on fish populations, very low streamflows can cause fish stranding.
Conditions could hinder salmon and bull trout from reaching spawning locations.
Water users on all streams are reminded to ensure that water intakes are screened to Fisheries and Oceans Canada standards to prevent fish from being pulled into water systems as water levels drop.

The provincial government is calling for voluntary water-use reductions in the Upper Fraser East, Nechako and Peace regions as streamflows in the central and northern regions remain well below normal and continue to decline.
The drought condition for those three regions was raised to level 3, very dry, from level 2, dry, on Tuesday.
Level 3 is also in place for the Northwest, Upper Fraser West, Middle Fraser and the Central Coast regions and Stikine and Skeena-Nass regions remain at drought Level 4, extremely dry.
"If voluntary reductions of water use are not sufficient to maintain flows above critical levels, the ministry may consider regulating water usage under the Water Sustainability Act," the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development said in a statement.
"Specific actions could include the temporary suspension of water licences or short-term water approvals to restore flows to minimum critical levels in the affected streams."
There is a risk of drought continuing into next year if freeze-up in these regions occurs before streams, soil moisture and groundwater levels recharge, the ministry added and also noted that low water levels could inhibit salmon and bull trout from reaching spawning locations.

Mumbai: Around 200 talukas in Maharashtra are facing "scarcity-like" conditions and two senior ministers have been asked to submit a report on this issue, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday.
He added that a decision to declare these talukas as scarcity-hit would be taken by October 31.
Talking to reporters after a ministerial meeting, Mr Fadnavis said that state Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil and Transport Minister Diwakar Raote have been entrusted with the task of reviewing the scarcity situation in these talukas and submitting a report to him.
"A decision of declaring the talukas as scarcity-hit will be taken by October 31.
Later, a Central team will visit to review the situation and then a decision of declaring drought will be taken, since it (declaring drought) is in the Centre’s domain," Mr Fadnavis said.
He informed that inputs about the prevailing scarcity situation is being compiled for submission to the Union government.
The Maharashtra CM said that ministers have been asked to take stock of water storage in the state’s dams and reservoirs and prepare a report.
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By Maha El Dahan DUBAI, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Syria’s wheat crop this year was the smallest in three decades as war and drought cut production by around 30 percent, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said on Tuesday.
Output of 1.2 million tonnes in 2018 was the lowest since 1989 and compared with a pre-crisis average of 4.1 million tonnes a year, FAO said.
The slump in wheat production this year occurred despite better access to agricultural land due to an improved security situation.
Infrastructure has been badly damaged after years of war combined with drought hitting bread-producing regions.
Of the total wheat produced, government state grain buyer Hoboob is estimated to have purchased only 250,000 tonnes.
Syria used to produce upwards of 4 million tonnes in a good year and was able to export 1.5 million tonnes.
The fall in output has put President Bashar al-Assad’s government under increasing pressure to import the grain.
Syria’s Internal Trade Minister told Reuters in June that Syria planned to import around 1.5 million tonnes of mostly Russian wheat this year.
A large part of Syria’s agricultural heartland in the north came under Islamic State control after the ultra-hardline jihadist group swept through the area and established a de facto capital in Raqqa.
"You have to consider that war basically is happening in the fields and so sometimes farmers and other stakeholders have limited access to the fields and to agricultural inputs – put that together with inflation and locals cannot afford to buy," Yao said.

The world faces extreme heat, drought, floods and poverty if global warming passes the 1.5C mark, a major UN report has found.
Global warming should be limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels rather than 2C to ensure the impacts of climate change are less extreme, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report says.
Sea level rises would be 10cm lower with a 1.5C temperature rise compared to 2C by 2100, while there would be worse impacts on coral reefs and the Arctic at higher temperatures.
The world has seen 1C of warming so far, with consequences such as more extreme weather already being felt, and there is more to come as temperatures continue to rise, the report says.
It warns that every fraction of additional warming could worsen the impact.
The report says this goal is possible but will require fast and far-reaching changes to power generation, industry, transport, buildings and potential shifts in lifestyle such as eating less meat.
It will also require action to take excess carbon emissions out of the atmosphere.
Promises made by countries to cut their emissions up to 2030 will not limit global warming to 1.5C even if action is massively scaled up after the end of the next decade, the report warns.
Prof Corinne Le Quere, from the University of East Anglia, said: "For the UK, this means a rapid switch to renewable energy and electric cars, insulating our homes, planting trees, where possible walking or cycling and eating well – more plants and less meat – and developing an industry to capture carbon and store it underground.
"We need to extend this kind of progress on renewables to other areas."

On the directives of Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, provincial minister Imtiaz Shaikh and Adviser to the CM on Law and Information Murtaza Wahab visited Tharparkar on Sunday.
Talking to the media, Wahab said that so far, 50,000 families, out of 208,000 in the district enlisted to receive food aid, have been given subsidised wheat bags of 50 kilogrammes.
According to him, while the remaining families are being regularly supplied with wheat bags, some 67,905 more will be included in the list of recipients of food aid.
Responding to complaints against the wheat distribution mechanism, the adviser asserted that the process is progressing in a transparent manner.
“An impression is being given as if the provincial government is doing nothing for the relief of the people,” he deplored.
The provincial government has floated a tender under which the transportation to far off villages and rural towns will start from October 18.
Meanwhile, Wahab said that for a long term solution of the drought situation, the Thar Development Policy has been formed, adding that a bill in this regard will be passed by the Sindh Assembly.
He said that 18 small dams will be built in Tharparkar for water storage.
Earlier, the ministers visited the district’s civil hospital in Mithi taluka and heard the complaints of the patients and their attendants.
They directed the deputy commissioner, Asif Jameel, to assign an assistant commissioner to visit the hospital daily and submit a report of his assessment.

NORTHERN New South Wales farmers will soon receive some much-needed drought relief with four trucks full of hay, molasses, bags of feed and food hampers.
“We have a property in Tenterfield, Wunglebung, and we have campers staying on our property and started raising money for drought by selling firewood to our campers,” Ms Wood said.
“We’re hoping people will get on board and we can go a bit further west of Tenterfield.” Ms Wood said this way people know their donations are going directly to farmers.
“All the money is donated and the transport is donated.
“But no, I’m not a farmer and it’s times like this when I think I’m glad I’m not.” Bundarra cattle farmer David Lonergan was the first to receive a load of hay from Mr Newell.
“This is our first year of owning this property.” Mr Lonergan said the group came out with their families and they all had a nice barbecue.
“I think the biggest thing is we found out that we’re not out here alone and there are people out there to help you.” Mr Lonergan said having the barbecues has been just as much help as receiving the donations.
“Tim and Brett have donated their homes for people down here who want get away for the weekend.
“People in the community wanted to donate but didn’t want to give it to the big charities because they don’t know where it goes,” he said.
“Personally I want to thank the community for what they’re doing because it’s really helping.

In a stark new warning, the world’s leading climate scientists have shown that global warming must be kept to a maximum of 1.5C to lessen the risk of drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty for hundreds of millions of people.
“We can see there is a difference and it’s substantial,” Roberts said.
At 2C extremely hot days, such as those experienced in the northern hemisphere this summer, would become more severe and common, increasing heat-related deaths and causing more forest fires.
Sea ice-free summers in the Arctic, which is warming two to three times fast than the world average, would come once every 100 years at 1.5C, but every 10 years with half a degree more of global warming.
Reforestation is essential to all of them as are shifts to electric transport systems and greater adoption of carbon capture technology.
Carbon pollution would have to be cut by 45% by 2030 – compared with a 20% cut under the 2C pathway – and come down to zero by 2050, compared with 2075 for 2C.
The report will be presented to governments at the UN climate conference in Poland at the end of this year.
At the current level of commitments, the world is on course for a disastrous 3C of warming.
But he said opinion had shifted in the past few years along with growing evidence of climate instability and the approach of tipping points that might push the world off a course that could be controlled by emissions reductions.
It has a scientific robustness that shows 1.5C is not just a political concession.

As the season progressed, hopes were renewed with scattered timely rains and plenty of heat units needed for cotton to develop in the Upper Gulf Coast, Morgan said.
“We got off to a rough start, but had a good looking crop in the Upper Gulf Coast before the rains set in in September,” he said.
“Now there’s been a month of off and on wet weather at the wrong time for the remaining cotton in the Upper Gulf Coast and irrigated cotton in the Blacklands.” Morgan said fields in cotton-producing areas in the lower two-thirds of the state have received continuous rains, and much of the Southeast and Coastal Bend is saturated, making accessing fields impossible.
Continuous rains are hurting fiber quality and seed quality in the field, and delays are causing problems such as cottonseed sprouting.
Morgan also said many producers in the rain-soaked parts of Texas had applied defoliant before rains set in, and the delays will mean spending more money on harvest aids to bring remaining cotton in.
In the Upper Gulf area, including Matagorda County, around 25-35% of the crop was still in fields, and 60-70% of fields in the Brazos Bottom were still awaiting harvest, he said.
Most dryland cotton in the Southern Plains and Rolling Plains was lost to drought, and producers were beginning to apply harvest aids to early maturing fields.
According to the September 30 USDA Crop Progress report, 25% of the Texas cotton crop had been harvested – 5% ahead of the five-year average, Morgan said.
Morgan said areas that needed to dry out in South and East Texas received additional rain this past weekend, which means continued delays and reduced fiber quality.
However, the cotton remaining in the fields in South and East Texas will likely see lower fiber quality than two years ago because of the extended exposure to weathering.