Another very quiet weather stretch ahead…
So, today we will focus on the drought we have suddenly entered and what that could mean going forward..
Did you see a couple drops on your windshield this morning? That was our serving of rain for this week. Most of the official measuring stations didn’t record anything, just .01″ on Bedford.
For the month of October, Boston is more than 2″ below the average to date with the last measurable rainfall coming 10 days ago.
That streak of 10 consecutive dry days pales in comparison to the 29 day streak that ended just last month (August 21 – September 19).
To date, this meteorological fall (starting Sept 1), has been the 3rd driest on record in Worcester and 5th in Boston.
It has only rained 8 times in the last 64 days!
Granted, this comes as good news to most of us that enjoy being outdoors in the fall here in New England, particularly after a year like 2023 when it seemed to rain on just about every Weekend.
Should we be concerned? How impactful is a drought this time of year?
The best way to measure our current drought status is with the U.S. Drought Monitor which comes out each Thursday morning.
As expected, the area of “moderate drought” nearly doubled over the last week in Massachusetts jumping from about 17% last week to more than 35% this week.
Even more concerning, there is no immediate pattern change expected. There is a slight chance of a few sprinkles this Saturday but our next shot at any significant rain likely won’t come until early November.
Would you believe that New York City has a real chance to go the entire month of October without any measurable rain? That would obviously be a record.
Thankfully, our current drought is considered “short term”. In fact, for the year, Boston still has a slight surplus thanks to a very wet January and March.
Bottom line, the overall concern level right now is fairly low. Growing season is over, so the impact to farmers, for now, will be minimal.
Water shortages are also not a top of mind issue this time of year since most folks have stopped using irrigation.
If you have planted grass seed over the last few weeks you will certainly need to keep those areas watered for now. Also, be sure to keep the ground moist around any newly planted shrubs to ensure proper root growth and protection.
One last thought…perhaps you are wondering if a dry fall season portends anything for the winter season that follows…I am glad you asked!
In fact, the data shows that in nearly every case, the pattern continues into the winter.
If we take the 10 driest fall seasons on record in Boston, 8 of them had below average snowfalls that winter. In many cases it was WELL below the average.
Boston averages about 49″ of snow in a season…the average for those 10 winters was about 28″ of snow. Yikes!
It is worth noting that most of the dataset is old, from the early and mid 1900s and obviously the state of our Planet and atmosphere is much different now than it was then. Also, if November should end up being a wet month, that could also flip the script on winter.
Stay tuned!
Click here for Westford snow storm data and past totals or select “Winter Snowfall“ under “Pages” on the left hand side.
For more up to date forecast information follow me on Twitter (@terrywbz) or follow the WBZ weather team on Facebook, search WBZWeather
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