Rains ends drought, but we're still "dry"
This morning's Drought Monitor map shows that recent rains have finally ended the drought conditions that had developed over the winter in as much as 80 percent of the state of Maryland. But while no part of the state is experiencing drought conditions this week, the entire state is still rated as "abnormally dry."
After extraordinarily dry conditions in February and March, BWI has recorded 5.71 inches of rain so far this month. The average April rainfall for Baltimore is 3 inches. We continue to run a paper deficit of almost 2 inches since Jan. 1. October, November and December also all saw rainfall deficits.
On the other hand, streamflow has improved, although levels are falling again in the wake of recent rains. Groundwater levels are improving, too, but some remain well below the averages for this time of year.
Concerns about whether we're really out of the woods apparently gave the Drought Monitor folks some pause. Here is a note I received today from one of the program's authors:
"As a USDM author and reader of your blog, I thought you might find it interesting to note there was a great deal of discussion with how to classify the situation in MD. Recent rain (see attached) has been a boon for farmers, lawns, reservoirs, and general green up. But there is an underlying concern over the near-record-low well water levels from March that were evident over much of MD:
http://md.water.usgs.gov/groundwater/web_wells/current/water_table/counties/
"It was the consensus that the path of least regret was to hold onto "D0" (abnormal dryness) with an "H" designator ("H" being hydrologic - or in this case, more specifically, ground water). If well tables continue to climb, then it would not surprise me to see the D0 disappear altogether. But there is some concern that we are still treading an slippery slope, and were not totally out of the woods yet.
"I just checked on the monitoring well up the street (from Jacksonville, where I live), and have a link to the info here...
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/md/nwis/uv?cb_72019=on&format=gif_stats&period=60&site_no=392045076512501
"Some items to note:
The current depth as of April 23 is 25.35'
The max depth (worst level) in this well's brief 7-year history was in 2002, 26.58'
The lowest depth (best level) was in 2004, @ 16.79'
"So we are a little more than a foot off the all-time (albeit brief sampling history) low, despite the recent rain. I do admit it's a bit of a hard sell (D0) on many, many fronts. But it is hard to ignore the fact that as of yesterday, we are not seeing the type of rebound locally that I (being on well water) was hoping to see. - Eric
Eric Luebehusen
Meteorologist
USDA - World Agricultural Outlook Board
Comments
I have no clue what that streamflow business is about.
FR: Blue dots mean flows are higher than average. Red or tan dots mean they're lower than average. Green is average, more or less.
Posted by: Eve | April 23, 2009 2:19 PM
...streamflow has improved, although levels are falling again in the wake of recent rains.
Why would rains cause the levels to fall?
FR: The rains brought stream levels up temporarily, but because water tables are still low, the stream flows are dropping again as the rains run off. Guess I wasn't very clear.
Posted by: Eve | April 23, 2009 4:19 PM