As many can attest to, much of the past month has been dry. Dry enough to put a good swath of the Northeast in a Moderate Drought (D1), while others fell into the abnormally dry category (D0). Even after an active winter, once all the snow and ice melted, there was just not enough moisture during the usually rainy springtime months of April and May. This resulted in not only wilting plants and grasses, but also a stubbornly high pollen count as there was no good rainfall to help wash it all away. Luckily, rainfall during the last day of May and the first day of June may help bring parts of the region out of moderate drought conditions, but will drier conditions prevail for the rest of the summer?
Drought conditions as of May 26th, 2015 from the USDA/National Drought Mitigation Center. Much of the region is in the moderate drought classification (D1), while others are considered abnormally dry (D0).
Precipitation certainly was well below normal for the month of May. For example, John F Kennedy Airport experienced their driest May on record, with an incredibly low 0.46" of rain (0.41" of which was received on May 16th alone). Normal precipitation for the month is typically 3.67". However, some areas did receive 3.00 - 6.00" of rain in New Jersey, southeastern New York, and northeastern Pennsylvania to bring those well below average amounts to near or even slightly above average in a few spots. Unfortunately, all that rain in a day's time did not come without consequence as flash flooding resulted, especially in New Jersey.
It is yet to be seen if the recent rainfall will put a dent in the drought situation. Those new numbers will come out late this week, but we will likely see a decrease in the moderate drought area. Even if the drought conditions improve, the problem is the upcoming summer still looks to be below normal precipitation-wise. Compared to last spring where a Nor'easter brought record rainfall from April 30th - May 1st, a quiet Atlantic hurricane season combined with a positive phase Pacific Decadal Oscillation this year both point towards a suppression of widespread, large scale rainfall events. This means the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast will be depending on typical summertime scattered showers and thunderstorms for rainfall, which can be very hit or miss. It will be interesting to see the evolution of the drought over the course of the summer, but a complete turn-around to above normal precipitation doesn't look likely.
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