LEBANON — Portions of southern Grafton County are now in an “extreme drought,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Previously, parts of the county were considered to be in a “severe drought.” The U.S. Drought Monitor, which is led by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, upgraded Grafton County’s status Tuesday.
According to the map, the extreme drought extends to slivers of Sullivan and Merrimack counties.
The swath of Southern Grafton County and the small slivers of Sullivan and Merrimack counties are the only portion of the Twin States to be under extreme drought conditions.
Areas that are under an extreme drought are subject to “major crop/pasture losses, extreme fire danger, widespread water shortages or restrictions,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Extreme drought is the fourth step in a five-level drought scale. The rest of Grafton County remains in a severe drought — the third step in the scale — while conditions in Sullivan and Merrimack counties range from moderate to severe.
In Vermont, Orange and Windsor counties remain under a severe drought, according to the map.
The Upper Valley cities of Lebanon and Claremont, as well as the town of Newbury, Vt., have already asked residents to take measures to conserve water.
The summer’s drought also has kept well drillers busy and challenged farmers to find sufficient forage for their animals.
The drought is driven by a lack of precipitation and above normal temperatures.
Some areas of Vermont have seen about 8 inches less rain than usual in the last four months, according to the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. In addition, moisture in the soil is as much as 80% below average for this point in September.
There aren’t any tropical rains on the horizon, and an occasional rain shower or thunderstorm won’t be enough to reverse current conditions, the agency said in a Thursday news release asking Vermonters to report drought impacts.
More information about reporting impacts such as low or dry drinking water sources, agricultural issues, wildfires, dry water bodies, stressed vegetation, wastewater treatment issues and algae blooms is online at: anr.vermont.gov/disaster/drought.
