Drought is sneaking in again, but relief may come soon

Onset Drought:

September usually provides some wonderful days on the eastern shore and this year has been no different. But with the sunny days and low humidity, the environment can be susceptible to rapid drying.

Approaching the mid-point of September, the Salisbury airport has recorded only one day of measurable rainfall. And it wasn’t much – just 0.05″. With almost half of the month in the books, onset drought conditions are now experienced across the entire peninsula.

The drought monitor is updated weekly

A Change in the Pattern:

Dominant high-pressure systems have been mostly responsible for the dry stretch, with warm days coupled with unseasonably low humidity. Cold fronts move faster as Fall approaches, so even when chances for rain occur the coverage of showers and storms tend to be widely scattered at best.

But a change in the pattern looks likely this week with help from the tropics. There is increasing confidence that a tropical system may develop off of the southeast coast and track inland, bringing much needed rain to the Mid-Atlantic, including the some of the more drought-ravaged areas on the eastern side of the Appalachians.

Even if the system does not become an organized tropical system, the likelihood of an unsettled pattern change is high. Deep moisture convergence and an accompanying onshore flow will be a setup for several days of potentially rainy and windy weather this week.

The pattern change will be a deviation from the fantastic weather we’ve had for much of the month. But it’s a change that we need.