Rains Having Impact, But Drought Not Over Yet.
The rain and snow storms that have hit during March have had an impact on Connecticut’s two-year-long drought, according to experts, but they point out 2017’s precipitation totals are still below normal.
Federal climate experts are continuing to list 42.19 percent of Connecticut as in “severe drought,” and another 46 percent in “moderate drought,” and the remainder of the state as in “abnormally dry” conditions.
Since Jan. 1, this region has gotten 8.87 inches of snow and rain, which is about half an inch below normal for the period, Dunham said.
In mid-February, 28.4 percent of Connecticut was still listed in extreme drought, according to the official U.S. Drought Monitor website.
Increased rain and snow during the first week in March eliminated that extreme drought category for Connecticut – making it the first time without any extreme drought in this state since November 2016.
State Department of Public Health records show that reservoir levels around the state have also increased significantly in the last couple of months.
The agency’s status report shows that, as of February, reservoirs across Connecticut were at an average of 91.5 percent of capacity.
The last few weeks of rain and snow have finally begun to have an impact on Connecticut’s two-year-long drought, eliminating the only remaining pocket of “extreme drought” in this state, according to federal weather experts.
But National Weather Service experts point out that, despite all the recent rain, precipitation in the Hartford region for March has remained slightly below normal.