Drought and wildfires threaten NY and NJ amid a historic dearth of rainfall
It's been the driest start to fall in New York City in 100 years – and meteorologists are worried about the increasing threat of wildfires and drought if it doesn't rain soon.
"We're not anticipating really any rainfall over the next week," said meteorologist Dominic Ramunni from the National Weather Service. "So these conditions will continue to worsen."
Ramunni said it's "very unusual" that no measurable rain has been recorded in Central Park so far this month, or for the last six or seven weeks since fall began. As a result, New York is in a period that forecasters call "abnormally dry" – the last stage of dryness before a real drought begins.
Still, New York's Department of Environmental Conservation lists the state's drought conditions as "normal," and has not yet issued any kind of watch or warning.
Central New Jersey has already entered moderate drought conditions, and parts of South Jersey are in a severe drought. On Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy issued a statewide drought watch and urged residents to conserve water to keep streams, reservoirs and groundwater at acceptable levels. If conditions don't improve, water restrictions would have to be implemented.
New York could soon follow suit, and Ramunni said residents should start taking some precautions.
"Never have sort of an open, open fire in these types of conditions when it's been so dry and a little bit windy," he said.
He also advised New Yorkers to check on outdoor plants and try to take shorter showers.
"Fortunately, it's been a relatively wet summer...so we have a little bit of wiggle room here before things really start to get a little bit worse," Ramunni said. "Hopefully we see some rain before then."
