Compared to last year Maine is in much better shape as far as water is concerned. While last July most of New England was experiencing abnormally dry to moderate drought, State Geologist Robert Marvinney says almost all of New England is drought free.
There’s just a little bit of abnormally dry area on the southern coast of Maine,” Marvinney said. “Compared to last year at this time when all of New England and a lot of New York was experiencing abnormally dry, moderate to severe drought.”
Normal winter conditions in the early part of 2016, plus normal precipitation in the spring, contributed to near normal runoff and groundwater recharge.
In addition, stream flows are currently near normal in the western part of the state and slightly below normal in the east which Marvinney says is driven by recent rainfall. A year ago most flows were well below normal across Maine.