A very dry August and two-thirds of September has put much of Schuylkill County on the brink of another drought.
According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor update, more than 88% of Schuylkill County is currently experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions. At the beginning of this year, the entire county was in some level of drought with nearly 98% experiencing severe drought.
More normal rainfall earlier this year brought Schuylkill County out of its drought designations.
However, according to National Weather Service, most of Schuylkill County experienced between just 1/2 and 1-1/2 inches of rainfall, especially in the central part of the county. Some parts of northern Schuylkill have received a couple inches of rain in the last month and a half.
September hasn’t been any better, either.
There is one part of southwestern Schuylkill County that is not considered abnormally dry. That’s likely because of the nearly 4 inches of rain in some spots in August.
And the latest NWS forecast only has small chances of light rain showers over the next seven days.
Statewide, western Pennsylvania is experiencing drought conditions. Parts of Beaver and Washington counties along the Ohio border are in an extreme drought designation.
Much of central Pennsylvania is experiencing abnormally dry conditions like Schuylkill County. Washington, Beaver, Allegheny, and Greene counties are in severe drought condition.
“Drying soils and low streamflow values warranted an expansion of abnormal dryness across eastern Pennsylvania, southern New York, eastern Massachusetts, and the Allegheny Plateau region of Maryland, while moderate drought expanded across western Pennsylvania,” according to a report from the National Drought Monitor.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is a partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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