Syracuse, N.Y. — Up to an inch of rain could fall in Upstate New York today and Thursday, helping to ease pre-drought conditions from an extended dry spell.
While few severe storms are expected, isolated thunderstorms could dump heavy rain and cause minor flooding.
"With the locally heavy downpours expected, some minor flooding of low-lying, poor drainage or urban areas cannot be ruled out," said the National Weather Service in Albany, where the heaviest rain is expected.
"This could allow for some minor rises on rivers and streams, but no flooding is anticipated on main stem rivers."
Storms will move quickly, limiting the chances for flooding.
Rain will move into Western New York this morning and reach Central New York by early afternoon.
It could continue on and off through Thursday morning.
Last week, about half of New York state was considered "abnormally dry," the step before a drought is declared.
Therefore, this week’s report won’t include rain from today, so it might exaggerate the extent of dryness.
A heat wave this weekend, however, is likely to exacerbate any potential drought.

JUBALAND, Somalia, 25th June, 2018 (WAM) — The Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation has distributed 824 tonnes of food items to 6,000 families – around 30,000 people – in the drought-stricken area of Jubaland in Somalia.
The food aid was distributed as part of the Foundation’s first phase of relief assistance this season and is in line with the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and H.H.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Chairman of the Khalifa Foundation.
A spokesperson from the organisation said that the humanitarian assistance aims to alleviate the burdens of the Somali people in the face of the severe drought affecting the area.
The aid was distributed in cooperation with local authorities.
WAM/Rasha Abubaker

The 416 Fire near Durango, Colorado, ignited on June 1.
In early June, more than 1,000 people near Durango, Colorado, had to leave their homes as the 416 Fire swept across the landscape.
Following a dismal snowpack, the region experienced a spring so hot and dry that the U.S. Drought Monitor labeled conditions “exceptional drought,” the worst category.
“We have to fundamentally change the mindset of the public, and the way we manage this resource,” says Newsha Ajami, a hydrologist and the director of urban water policy at Stanford University’s Water in the West program.
This spring, the Colorado River Research Group, an independent team of scientists focused on the river, labeled the climate transition in the Colorado River Basin “aridification,” meaning a transformation to a drier environment.
As Brad Udall, a member of the research group and a water and climate researcher at Colorado State University, puts it: “Words matter.” Linguists have long argued over the extent to which words and language influence one’s thoughts and worldview.
One commonly cited example of evidence that they do is an Indigenous Australian language that doesn’t use words for left and right.
Research suggests that in their thoughts and interactions with others, their conceptions of space are radically different from those who speak languages with relative spatial terms.
This spring, a year after California Gov.
How people perceive and value water is essential to shaping how much of it they use, says Patricia Gonzales, a doctoral student studying water resources at Stanford University.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The Arizona Game and Fish Department is boosting efforts to refill water tanks for wildlife in the midst of drought.
The agency typically hauls about 400,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of water to tanks statewide in a normal year, the Arizona Daily Sun reported.
But this year is exceptionally dry, and department officials say that figure will rise to 1.5 million gallons (5.7 million liters).
The agency began supplementing the catchments in November, which hasn’t happened in at least 20 years, according to agency officials.
Mike Anderson and a few other volunteers with the Arizona Elk Society have hauled about 100,000 gallons (378,530 liters) to 78 water catchments since February just in the Flagstaff area, he said.
The nonprofit has an agreement with Game and Fish to maintain water levels at certain tanks so the department can focus its efforts elsewhere.
“Our goal is to have available water no greater than 2 to 3 miles apart,” said Tom Mackin, with the Coconino Sportsmen, who is also helping with water hauling.
The catchments often use some mechanism like tin sheeting to catch rain and snowmelt from a large area then funnel it into storage tanks that feed into a drinking pool or container.
The water drinkers are located strategically in areas that are known to be frequented by wildlife and are monitored by wildlife managers with the department, said Shelly Shepherd, with Game and Fish.
Elk, pronghorn, mule deer, javelina, turkeys, rabbits, birds and even bees are among the animals that take advantage of the water sources, Mackin said.

But as former Department of Primary Industries and now central tablelands senior Local Land Services livestock officer Brett Littler commonly tells farmers “a plan, even if regularly adjusted, is far better than no plan and gives you a rational way forward if the drought continues”.
“Our central west Purlewaugh property drought plan, a predominately beef fattening business with 20 percent of the farm sown to dual purpose crops, includes a number of strategies.
“It is by no means a recommended plan but is an example of one to cope with unexpected and sometimes deepening droughts.
“Our strategy includes a mixture of crops and pasture types to as quickly as possible provide feed when the season breaks, stored hay from good seasons, maximising dry paddock feed quality, regular feed availability assessment, purchase cotton seed and destock at more or less planned times as the drought progresses.
“When a good break occurs and we can estimate feed availability we will restock as rapidly as is feasible.
“Thirty five percent of our property comprises tropical grasses that will provide feed, given rain, from mid-September onwards.
“Good groundcover is vital for capturing rain when it does occur and to help crops and pastures recover as fast as is possible.
“Knowing how much paddock feed is available helps enormously in making decisions like what level to supplement feed at and when to plan stock sell offs.
We have downsized 50 percent, based on feed budgeting estimates.
“Like many farmers I feel we were a bit late making some decisions like cotton seed purchase and sell-off scheduling.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Game and Fish Department is boosting efforts to refill water tanks for wildlife in the midst of drought.
The agency typically hauls about 400,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of water to tanks statewide in a normal year, the Arizona Daily Sun reported .
But this year is exceptionally dry, and department officials say that figure will rise to 1.5 million gallons (5.7 million liters).
The agency began supplementing the catchments in November, which hasn’t happened in at least 20 years, according to agency officials.
Mike Anderson and a few other volunteers with the Arizona Elk Society have hauled about 100,000 gallons (378,530 liters) to 78 water catchments since February just in the Flagstaff area, he said.
The nonprofit has an agreement with Game and Fish to maintain water levels at certain tanks so the department can focus its efforts elsewhere.
"Our goal is to have available water no greater than 2 to 3 miles apart," said Tom Mackin, with the Coconino Sportsmen, who is also helping with water hauling.
The catchments often use some mechanism like tin sheeting to catch rain and snowmelt from a large area then funnel it into storage tanks that feed into a drinking pool or container.
The water drinkers are located strategically in areas that are known to be frequented by wildlife and are monitored by wildlife managers with the department, said Shelly Shepherd, with Game and Fish.
Elk, pronghorn, mule deer, javelina, turkeys, rabbits, birds and even bees are among the animals that take advantage of the water sources, Mackin said.

And while economists are predicting the region’s economic outlook could get worse before it gets better, its political and business leaders remain optimistic.
ASB’s latest regional economic scoreboard for the March quarter listed Taranaki as the worst performing of the 16 regions in the country.
* Why is Taranaki the best performing region?
"Following the drought the dairy payout is going up and there will be significant oil and gas exploration over the next few years."
Holdom said there was also the expectation Taranaki would attract significant investments in its energy and engineering sectors in the coming yeas as the Government looked to invest in the ‘Just Transition’ to a low carbon economy.
Young said there was "nothing surprising" in the ASB report.
"There were strong indicators to show the local economy was healthy with construction, tourism, housing all currently showing strong demand," he said.
The ASB regional economic scoreboard took latest quarterly regional statistics and ranked the economic performance of 16 regional council areas.
Fastest growing regions gain the highest ratings, and a good performance by the national economy raises the ratings of all regions.
Ratings were updated every three months based on 11 measures, including employment, construction, retail trade, and house prices.

Homeowners know that irrigation is a necessary but never-ending task for gardens and the overall landscape.
"If not too severe, they may just cover lawn sprinklers and not watering of gardens," Perry said.
Watering should be directed toward your choicest plants, expensive or special ones — perhaps family heirloom plants and those newly planted and not yet established.
"You may need to let them shrivel and crisp up.
Plan your landscape not only for beauty but for irrigation, said Sheri Dorn, an extension horticulturist with the University of Georgia.
It all starts with the soil, she said.
Analyzing its chemical components can help you gauge fertilizer needs.
"Fast growth needs water to maintain it," she said.
Longstanding droughts can be damaging, but water-wise gardening means you might be able to save your water and the plants, too, Perry said.
• Water deeply and less often, rather than frequently and for shorter periods.

Arizona’s drought is pushing the Salt River wild horses close to starvation.
One organization is jumping in to bring food to those animals.
The need to feed wild horses due to drought in Arizona is almost unprecedented.
That’s according to Simone Netherlands with Salt River Wild Horse Management.
She said hay will be supplied to horses that lack food, but it won’t be easy.
"It’s very hard to grow hay right now,” Netherlands said.
“It takes a lot of water, so you know hay prices are high and plus we have to use weed free certified hay, so that adds a little bit to the price as well.” Netherlands said because hay isn’t cheap and man-made feeding can’t continue forever, donations are also being accepted.
Because wild horses are self-sufficient animals, Netherlands said they have to be fed carefully.
"You don’t want them thinking that their food comes from people,” she said.
“So we’re doing that strategically, so that it does not pain them.” Netherlands said her team distributes hay to a dozen feed stations along the river and they’re starting to see improvement among mares in poor condition.

Most all areas were near normal precipitation for the week, with portions of northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota having rain totals of 3+ inches above normal.
There was a small improvement to abnormally dry conditions in central and western Iowa as well.
High Plains The northern portions of the region were cooler than normal with widespread rain over the western Dakotas while most of the rest of the region had temperatures that were 6-9 degrees above normal, and most areas from central and eastern Nebraska into eastern Kansas were drier than normal for the week.
In eastern South Dakota, the short-term dryness as well as the heat allowed for the expansion of both moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions to the south.
Moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions were improved in far eastern Nebraska this week as well.
In eastern Kansas, abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions were expanded as the region continues to miss out on the rain events and the recent heat has rapidly worsened conditions.
South Most of the region was near normal precipitation for the week, with portions of west Texas and areas along the Gulf Coast receiving above-normal precipitation.
A large area of severe drought was introduced this week over southeast Oklahoma, northeast Texas and into southwest Arkansas.
In Puerto Rico, dryness continues to develop and abnormally dry conditions were expanded to the north by about 1 county this week.
Temperatures will remain below normal in the areas of the Plains and Midwest where the greatest precipitation occurs while the West and Southwest should expect daily high temperatures to be 8-10 degrees above normal.