Dry conditions in Connecticut are getting worse, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
A large portion of western Connecticut was listed by the agency Thursday as in a “severe drought,” a sign of worsening water conditions from the “moderate drought” that had engulfed the entire state last week.
While the dryness is getting worse, drinking water reservoir levels throughout the state still remain strong, the Hartford Courant reports.
Still, residents are urged to cut back usage when they can. Gov. Ned Lamont urged residents to be alert to the worsening conditions, declaring a statewide drought advisory over the weekend.
Residents are encouraged to take simple voluntary actions to reduce water usage, like shutting down outdoor irrigation and following conservation requests from local water suppliers.
Wildfires also still remain a concern. A number of brush fires have lit up across Connecticut and the Northeast due to the unusually dry conditions.
That dry weather triggered a number of “red flag warnings” in Connecticut in recent weeks, with windy conditions and a ready source of fuel – dead, dry leaves – sparking a flurry of fire warnings from government officials pleading with people to avoid open outdoor flames and properly dispose of cigarettes.
A fire on Lamentation Mountain in Berlin, Connecticut, burned more than 100 acres and led to the death of a firefighter. Other fires have also burned in New Jersey and New York.
The U.S. Drought Monitor breaks out droughts into five categories: abnormally dry, moderate drought, severe drought, extreme drought and exceptional drought.
The last time a comparable level of “severe drought” hit Connecticut was in late September of 2022, federal data shows.
But Connecticut has been in the throes of more intense droughts in recent memory. From November 2016 through January of 2017, “extreme drought” conditions engulfed nearly half of the state.
