Year-long drought declared over in Seacoast.
bearly@seacoastonline.com @briantemprano DURHAM — The drought is over.
The latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor released last Thursday shows all of New England, except for a band in Connecticut, as fully recovered from the drought that has, at times, challenged water resources in the area in the past year.
A year ago, much of Southern New Hampshire and Southern Maine were classified by the Drought Monitor — a partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — as abnormally dry.
By the end of September, the southern half of Strafford County, all of Rockingham County, most of York County, Maine, as well as half of Massachusetts, was classified by the Drought Monitor as being in extreme drought.
Even last month, much of the southern half of the New Hampshire was considered abnormally dry.
“This is good going into the summer.
The region will use more water in the summer, as the heat will evaporate some of the water and people will use more of it, like in gardens and washing vehicles.
The recharge of the ground water should also help those with wells.
Last month, Brandon Kernen, the manager of hydrology and conservation at the state department of environmental services, said at least 500 wells have failed since 2016, “and that (estimate) is low.” Kernen urged any homeowner or business owner who has experienced a well failure last year to complete the “Drought Economic Impact Survey,” which the state will use in “identifying the location and severity of drought impacts for assessing drought response needs,” according to the survey form.