Long Island Drought Downgraded to Moderate

Recent rainfall has resulted in Long Island’s drought being downgraded from severe to moderate, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, bringing good news to East End farmers amid the harvest season.

October rainfall was 2 inches higher than average for the first two weeks of the month, reversing trends from this summer, when the region had about 6 inches less rain than normal and September was nearly an inch off.

“We have been seeing more rainfall in the area, which has led to a downgrade in that drought in our area,” said Bryan Ramsey, an Upton-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS). “We may even see further improvement.”

The latest drought report issue released October 13 was based on data through October 11, and the region has continued to see rainy days since, so an additional downgrade may be on the horizon, Ramsey said.

The moderate drought designation covers most of Nassau and Suffolk counties. Parts of the North Shore of western Suffolk were further downgraded to abnormally dry, the lowest drought intensity level.