It’s nice to hear the rain tapping on the roof this afternoon. While every bit helps, we are going to need a lot more to make up our deficit across much of South Jersey. The latest weekly drought report shows much of South Jersey in a moderate to severe drought.
There are a few locations across South Jersey that have been lucky, such as Atlantic City. Their total rainfall for the month thus far is around 3 inches, which is average for the month of September. However, if you go back to the late spring and into the summer months, there still remains a deficit.
The “worst” of the drought is around Cape May, Cumberland, and the interior portion Atlantic County. These locations are in dire need of rainfall as they are several inches behind.
All of North and Central New Jersey also need rain as they are also dealing with moderate to severe drought conditions.
A lot of folks keep saying “we need a tropical system to get out of the drought.” Well, yes and no. The downside to that is that tropical systems typically produce tropical rains – very heavy rainfall. That is BAD news if you are in a moderate or severe drought as the rain will not soak into the ground and then you have flash flooding issues.
I will say that the European model and the European Ensemble continue to show consistency with a system moving from the Caribbean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico, and then along the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic coastline. This is for LATE NEXT WEEK INTO NEXT WEEKEND. Of course, a lot could change by that point. Besides a system next week that will bring in another reinforcing shot of cooler air, we may just have to hope for SOME tropical moisture and keep our fingers crossed that it does more good than harm.
