Sick of rain? We might need more
U.S. update keeps Montco, Bucks, North Jersey “abnormally dry.”
The clouds have been generous so far this month on both sides of the river, and as we noted earlier, the first 10 days of May were the eighth-wettest such period in Philadelphia in records dating to 1872.
Yet on the U.S. Drought Mitigation Center map posted Thursday, all of Bucks County remained in the "abnormally dry" zone, along with all but the Main Line piece of Montgomery County, northern Chesco, and all of North Jersey.
That map, a multi-agency production that takes into account a variety of factors, including soil moisture levels and on-site reports, was assembled Tuesday morning -- after the rainy spell.
In the seven-day period ending Wednesday, rainfall in Delaware County averaged over stations countywide was 1.6 inches, or 175 percent of normal, according to the National Weather Service.
In Philly, the total was 1.5, and both Delco and the city are out of the dry zone, as was most of Chesco, where the countywide figure was 1.6.
However, only 1.1 inches was measured in Bucks, where the 60-day total was just 78 percent of normal, and the two-month amounts have been substantially below in Philly and Delaware, Chester, and Montgomery Counties.
Rain has been kinder to South Jersey farmers in recent weeks.
But as hard as it might be to accept this week, areas to the west of the Delaware River could use some more rain.
