Drought — Northern Penobscot, Maine

2025-10-21 to 2025-10-31 · Northern Penobscot, Maine

Event narrative

A lack of rainfall in Northern Penobscot led to prolonged drying conditions in October. Conditions began as Abnormally Dry (D0) in late September, and degraded to Severe Drought (D2) by mid-October. Then degraded back to Moderate Drought (D1) by end of October. Drought continued into November.

Wider weather episode

Drought in northern and central Maine persisted throughout October, as precipitation deficits continued and/or worsened throughout the month. Overall, northern and central Maine had a 0.5-2 inch precipitation deficit by the end of October, with northern Maine reporting around 3-4 inches of rain throughout the month, and central and Downeast Maine reporting about 2-4 inches of rain. There was not any significant severe weather to alleviate drought conditions throughout the month. In terms of the drought severity, by the end of September, severe drought extended through central Maine in the Penobscot region, and the interior Downeast. Hancock and Washington county's coastline upgraded to extreme drought conditions by the end of the month. By October 7th, severe drought crept up farther north into central Piscataquis, central Penobscot, and southern Aroostook. Extreme drought also expanded into interior Hancock and Washington counties. By October 14th, extreme drought expanded even further inland on Washington county, where almost the entire county was in D3 conditions. Severe drought expanded north on October 21st, to include portions of northern Somerset, all of Piscataquis, all of Penobscot, and into central and northern Aroosotok. These conditions persisted into the end of October, with only a portion of southern Aroostook and northern Penobscot degrading down into moderate drought. By the end of the month, this drought officially became the worst drought in Maine since 2002.

Impacts from this drought included multiple record low river streamfalls across northern and central Maine, including the St. John, Fish River, St. Croix, and Mattawamkeag. Dry well reports throughout the state were recorded, with some occurring in the Downeast. October marked the end of the growing season, but there were significant losses to crops due to the prevailing drought conditions.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1296212. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.