NH DES Drought Update 11

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, over 90% of the state is experiencing drought.  Last week, portions of the state were elevated from “moderate drought” (D1) to “severe drought” (D2), including Strafford County, Belknap County, and Grafton County. The remainder of the state is designated as “moderate drought”, with the exception of the northern tip of Coos County and a small sliver on the western side of Coos and Carroll County, which are categorized as “abnormally dry”. The weather outlook for this week indicate little to no measurable rainfall. The 90-day precipitation deficits by county for New Hampshire range from -3” to -5” in Strafford, Rockingham, Hillsborough, and Grafton; -2” to -3” in Merrimack, Belknap, Cheshire, Sullivan, and Carrol; and -1” to -2” in Coos.

NHDES is urging municipalities in areas experiencing drought to implement municipal-wide lawn watering restrictions as authorized by RSA 41:11-d, which allows municipalities, including village districts, to restrict lawn watering activities on private well owners and community water systems within municipal boundaries.  Water supply shortages are more common during severe drought, especially when conservation measures have not been taken during moderate drought.  Curbing lawn water usage is imperative to sustaining supplies. NHDES is also working with public water suppliers to implement restrictions.  To date, 147 water systems serving a total of 270,700 people and 4 municipalities with a population of 35,500 have implemented outdoor water use restrictions. See the Restriction List and Map for names of systems implementing restrictions and a map of drought conditions by municipality.

See Drought Guidance for Municipalities for guidance on adopting a lawn water restriction, public messaging, and providing emergency water supplies to the public.

Please report restrictions to NHDES for posting on the NHDES website using the Restriction Reporting Form.  Please also inform residents to report residential well shortages using the Residential Well Impact Survey form.  NHDES will track well impacts so as to provide current information on drought impacts in your region.

Drought Update:
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor released this morning, 28% of the state is categorized as “severe drought” (D2), 64% of the state is categorized as “moderate drought” (D1) and 7% of the state is categorized as “abnormally dry”.

Tip* The restriction map includes town boundaries and drought categories, making it easy to identify if your water system’s service area is experiencing drought.

All counties are experiencing a 90-day precipitation departures.  Departures range from -1.67” in Coos County to -4.25” in Rockingham County (https://w1.weather.gov/data/TAR/ESPTAR).

The majority of the state is experiencing below normal to low groundwater levels. For more information, see the New Hampshire Groundwater Level Monitoring Report for August 2020.  Reports are released monthly. 

Forecast and Outlooks:
The short term forecast calls for clear skies, day temperatures in the 70s with cooler nights. Dry and cool temperatures are anticipated to continue into next week, measurable amounts of rainfall are unlikely (NOAA National Weather Service).

The 8-14 day outlook favors above normal precipitation and above normal temperatures across the state.

The U.S. Monthly Drought Outlook favors drought conditions to remain, with minimal improvement, through the month of September.