Drought — Central Washington, Maine

2025-12-01 to 2025-12-02 · Central Washington, Maine

Event narrative

Adequate precipitation in Central Washington led to conditions improving to Moderate Drought (D1) by early December.

Wider weather episode

Persistent drought continued into December in northern and central Maine. The ground was frozen the entire month in northern counties, continuing to restrict any moisture from penetrating down into the soil. Frost depth at the beginning of December was 2 inches at the Caribou office, gradually diminishing down to a low depth of 1 inch during a warm up period around December 19th, but rounded the month out to a frost depth of 12 inches. All climate sites recorded around, or slightly below, average precipitation. with generally 0.1 - 1.0 inch deficits.

At the end of November, northern Somerset, northwestern and central Aroostook, northern Piscataquis, southern Penobscot, and portions of Hancock and Washington counties, were included in severe drought. The Central Highlands region, southern Aroostook, and portions of far northern Hancock and Washington counties were in moderate drought. There was some slight improvement by the end of the month for Washington county, as Downeast ground remained unfrozen, and snow/rainfall events at the end of the month provided some moisture, resulting in the county improving from severe drought to moderate drought. Otherwise, the rest of the state was left in the status quo. In terms of rivers, all rivers in the region saw river ice rapidly thicken. Southern rivers had a brief period of ice break up during the mid-December warm up event, but quickly refroze later in the month as temperatures fell below freezing once again.

No additional dry drinking well reports during December.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1306191. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.