The dry streak is over! But, drought will persist.

Finally! A dreary evening doesn’t usually garner much excitement, but Sunday evening was different. After well over a month of no measurable rainfall on Delmarva, a slow and soaking rain ended a record dry streak for the area.

Record Dry Streak Ends

As of midnight Monday, over .25″ of rain had fallen across much of central and southern Delmarva. The arrival of rain on Sunday evening ended the streak of consecutive dry days in Salisbury at 39 and at 43 in Georgetown. Both streaks are all-time records.

Help from the Tropics

With the development of Rafael, a late season hurricane that tracked into the Gulf of Mexico, a shot of tropical moisture was drawn northward into the low and mid level pattern across the Midwest at the start of the weekend. As a trough moved eastward into the Mid-Atlantic, the enhanced amount of moisture was enough for widespread areas of light to moderate rain to develop.

Decreased Fire Risk

The short-term benefits of this rainfall will be immediate. The slow, soaking nature of the rain will help saturate the top layer of the ground, which includes a lot of dried-up vegetation and brush. However, the core effects of drought will continue to persist.

Drought Continues

As of Saturday, the year-to-date rainfall deficit stood at -9.30″ and -7.83″ for Salisbury and Georgetown, respectively. Most of the deficit is recent (since September 1st) which has made drought conditions that much more acute, becoming one of the worst droughts in over 20 years.

Courtesy National Weather Service

Even as longer range precipitation forecasts suggest near average trends, it will take awhile (with several more of these soaking rains) to get back on track. We’ll still be assessing this drought monitor for awhile!