Late Spring 1999 Drought?

UPDATE - May 23 1999 - The drought has been broken here at CASI HQ by 1.3" of steady rain last night!

May 20, 1999 - The lack of rainfall in the mid-atlantic area has caught the attention of the CASI Members. Here in the city of State College PA, the location of CASI HeadQuarters, I (Jesse Ferrell) have noticed that the lawns on my block, which were lush and green a month ago, are now turning brown quickly. What was supposed to be a saving rain yesterday was but a sprinkle for this town, and Member Mid-Atlantic Weather Station in Baltimore MD experienced a similar situation. Areas further to the NE of the mid-atlantic received soaking rains.

Member Mid-Atlantic Weather Station writes: in their mailing list: "Many in the NE quadrant of the US received much-needed rains on Wednesday. Large portions of Central MD and VA (west of the Bay) were less fortunate. Officially at BWI, a TRACE was recorded for Wed 5/19. I've taken a look at the past 60 days for BWI and have developed an interesting table summarizing our developing situation. No one is "officially" calling this a drought-- yet. I'm calling it a "mini-drought". Stats and precip table may be accessed via the homepage at http://members.aol.com/herb0412/index.html."

Below is a link to actual and normal precipitation for the CASI1 Weather Station here in State College. Notice that April started out normal or even wetter than normal, (highlighted in green) but it has only rained once since April 24, (highlighted in yellow) which is nearly a month.

FIGURE 1: Precip At CASI HQ 4/1-5/20/99
Click For Larger Image

FIGURE 2: Click for an animation of Doppler Estimated Precipitation for the PA/MD Region 4/24/99 - 5/20/99. Despite a few days of missing data, keep an eye on Central PA (PSB is near CASI HQ) and notice how the soaking rains fall all around us but barely more than a trace of precip actually falls on us.

CASI Member Barry Hile notes, "Franklin County PA, Precip for May 1-20 1999 is below the average for this area. Average Precip for May 3.67" to date we recieved 1.03".

CASI Member Mike Pontrelli writes the following: "I live in Northeast PA, and before we got our 1-2" of steady rainfall, we were also in a serious situation. Streams are lower than they've ever been for this time of year (water.usgs.gov). Many streams which are normally roaring from spring rains are just trickling, and a few ponds near me have dried up. Several wells have already gone dry. I find it amazing no one is taking precautions, especially since we are entering the time when the water table NORMALLY drops! On a similar note, we have had an amazing fire season in NE PA and NW NJ. Fueled by strong winds and dry conditions thousands of acres have burned in seperate fires. One serious fire in the Delaware Water Gap almost broke away but easterly winds and an inch of rain stopped it when the firefighters could not. If you travel through the gap take a look at the New Jersey side. There are dozens of acres of bare trees as they were killed by the 30 foot flames. (It was not just a brush fire). That fire was caused by someone tossing a cigarette out a window (think twice before doing that). Despite 1-2" rain, we still need a lot more here. Perhaps everyone is less concerned becauase our year-to-date precip totals don't reveal dry conditions. What they are forgetting is that most of this year's rainfall fell as heavy downpours on frozen ground, allowing it to run off and do NOTHING for the water table. And recent precip has been almost non-existent."

But that's not all! Drought plagues other areas too. CASI Member Billy Tholborn writes:

In the Florida Parishes Region (Southeast Louisiana), so far this year we have received 12.88 inches of rain (as of April 30th). Normally, we would have received about 20 inches by now. The month of April was the second dryest on record. At Baton Rouge, La. (KBTR), 0.64 inches was recorded officially. Normal precipitation for the month of April is 5.37 inches. It looks like there is no end in sight, or should I say, no relief in sight! - Florida Parishes Weather

Drought is also in effect in the Caribbean. CASI Member Roddy Heyliger from St. Maarten writes:

Serious Drought in the North Eastern Caribbean: The Island Territories of St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius (Dutch Antilles), have been experiencing a severe drought during the past months.

On St. Maarten the island has experienced a number of bush fires throughout the island. The authorities have warned residents not to set any fires without permission first from the authorities.

On Saba the drought is causing problems for residents. Cisterns are running dry and the demand theirfore for drinking water is high. The water plant broke down and the Island Government had to seek alternative sources for drinking water.

A company on St. Maarten shipped over a 5000 gallon per day reverse osmosis plant as a short-term solution. This plant should be operational over the weekend of May 22-23. On May 21 a large fire broke out in the hillside above the village of Hell's Gate. The fire was set by a farmer and it got out of control. Firemen monitored the situation for a number of hours and it burnt itself out.

• Other Links
  • NBC4 (Washington D.C.) Drought Links

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© 1999 Central Atlantic Storm Investigators