Severe drought conditions have extended to encompass most of the state due to an ongoing lack of significant rainfall.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, around 93% of the state has been impacted by severe drought conditions, up from the 73% of the state under those conditions last week.
As of Thursday morning, 100% of the state was experiencing baseline drought conditions, and extreme drought conditions have continued to spread throughout central, midcoast and Down East Maine.
The continuous drought has had lasting effects throughout the state and bodies of water are low in Aroostook, Penobscot and Washington counties, the National Weather Service’s Caribou office said Sunday.
Below the surface, groundwater is also depleted. Wells are running dry around the state, with the 439 reported so far easily outpacing numbers from recent years, including Maine’s last drought in 2022, when 95 wells went dry, according to data reported to the state.
And there’s no drought-ending rainfall in sight, according to current extended forecasts. According to the National Weather Service, the next possible rainfall will likely come Friday night, but it will not be enough to stymie ongoing drought conditions.
Rainfall is predicted in northern and eastern Maine this week, but isn’t expected to make a dent in drought conditions, according to the weather service; it would take 10 to 15 inches of slow, steady rain to do that before the ground freezes.
Although the state has not experienced a widespread hard freeze, overnight temperatures are consistently dipping into the mid and low 30s, and the first solid frost of the season is expected around this time of year.
