Although we have seen rounds of showers and thunderstorms, it certainly has not been everywhere across South Jersey. The latest weekly drought monitor shows “dry” conditins across South Jersey, with moderate” drought conditions across portions of Central and North Jersey.
While we have seen some thunderstorms, it has been hit or miss, and mainly been in the form of heavy rainfall — which is a problem. “This creates an issue when there is heavy rain because of runoff. A lot of it doesn’t seep down into the ground as it’s becoming hydrophobic,” said Nick Pittman, Chief Meteorologist at NorCast Weather.
We would benefit from a steady, soaking rain, that way it seeps into the ground, and the farmers would certainly be grateful, too! However, it’s looking like the opposite over the next week so.
The latest 6-10 Day Precipitation Outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center shows near normal to below normal precipitation going into the first week of August. After a very nice weekend with low dew points and cooler temperatures, a large ridge of high pressure will dominate our weather beginning next week. High pressure is bad news when it comes to precipitation, and this will limit any widespread rainfall across South Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic Region.
The drought monitor could very well move into the “moderate” drought stage over the next few weeks if we do not see any widespread rainfall.
