Drought — Western Kent, Rhode Island

2016-09-13 to 2016-09-30 · Western Kent, Rhode Island

Event narrative

The U.S. Drought Monitor expanded the Severe Drought (D2) designation into western Kent County on September 13th. This continued through the month of September.

Wider weather episode

September brought more dry weather and continued drought conditions to much of southern New England. For many, the drought began in July 2016. At this point, this is a drought categorized largely by well below normal precipitation and groundwater and agricultural impacts. Most of the region experienced below normal rainfall during the month of September.

A drought advisory was in effect for the whole state of Rhode Island during the month of September. Soil moisture (measured by the Climate Prediction Center) was abnormally dry or drier. Groundwater conditions (measured by the United States Geological Survey) were found to be below to well below normal. River and streamflow conditions were below to well below normal with 16 gage sites in southern New England at record low levels.

Farmers have had to irrigate their crops much more than normal for September. While data thus far has been anecdotal, many farmers are having to choose which fields to irrigate and which to let go, as well as not doing 2nd and 3rd plantings of late summer crops. Providence County was declared a primary disaster county due to the drought. Farms in this county are eligible for assistance from the Farm Service Agency and the Livestock Forage Disaster Program.

A somewhat unique situation to Tiverton is a lack of water to fight fires. Tiverton has no fire hydrants, so firefighters rely on nearby ponds and rivers for their tanker trucks. With ponds and rivers well below their normal levels, it has become more and more difficult for firefighters to draw water from these sources.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 661051. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.