The drought season has made a strong reappearance around the tri-state region, with abnormally dry conditions presently in the Lower Hudson Valley, Westchester, New York City, Long Island and New Jersey with a heightened moderate drought condition across New Jersey.

Currently, we find our drought monitor map highlighted in yellow and light brown, indicating abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions respectively.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is refreshed weekly with new data collected every Tuesday followed by the map revision on Thursdays.

In New Jersey, at the start of the calendar year, measurement taken Dec. 26, 2023, there was no drought nor abnormally dry conditions present.

Three months ago, on April 16, 2024, the same conditions persisted as January featured a 2-inch surplus of precipitation (rain and snow) followed by a rainy April. Currently, the Garden State has three well defined moderate drought locations in northern and south-central regions, impacting 13 counties and estimated population of 1,497,452.

Alternatively, New York began the calendar year under more significant drought conditions with regions under both moderate and severe categories. In late December, New York was near 8% in drought whereas currently none of the population is in drought status. Abnormally dry conditions continue and have the potential to become drought areas. But thankfully, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center 3-month outlook demonstrates optimific news - a wetter trend for the tri-state region.