With the majority of Massachusetts in a state of critical drought, Thursday’s rain is a welcome sight for many. But experts warn it won’t be enough to reverse the impact of two dry months.
“We could see close to two inches in some spots around Massachusetts and southern New England as a whole, which is pretty encouraging,” said meteorologist Candice Hrencecin of the National Weather Service in Norton. “But we’re still in a pretty big deficit. So I don’t think It’s going to make too big of a dent.”
On Tuesday, the state declared all of Massachusetts is in a “critical drought,” with the exception of Cape Cod and the islands, which are in a normal condition.
“We’re almost at a 10-11 inch deficit in many parts of the state,” Vandana Rao, the state’s director of water policy, said on Thursday. “So it’s going to take some time for that recovery to happen. But of course, any amount of rain we get is a relief and is extremely welcome.”
The reservoirs that feed the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority are in good condition, Rao said, but two months without rain has depleted groundwater supplies in the state.
“It takes a while for the groundwater to start to recoup because it takes a while for the water to seep down,” she said. “And with the trickle that we’ve seen so far in many parts of the state, it’s really wetting the surface and maybe only the top few inches of the soil, which goes to help with fire protection, but not not yet enough or replenishing the groundwater.”
Firefighters say more rain is necessary to put an end to the extended wildfire season they’ve had to battle.
“We need close to 10 inches of rain to recover, so that fuels below the surface will become damp again and start stop allowing fire to creep underground,” said Karyn Lothrop, district fire warden for Norfolk County for the Massachusetts Department of Recreation and Conservation. “We need a soaking rain for more than one day — preferably up to a week — in order to get that to transmit down through the soil level, because everything’s so dry because of the drought.”
Over the last several weeks, 427 acres of Lynn Woods have burned. Lt. Denis Ring of the Lynn Fire Department said he’s happy to see the rain.
“It’s going to obviously help with putting out a lot of these small fires that are burning along the top of the ground. ... However, the problem is because of our drought, the fire’s burning very deep into the ground - some areas 8, 12, 15 inches into the ground,” Ring said. “You need a good multiday-long, soaking rain in order to get down to that.”
Ring said he worries the top layer will dry out again if this rain system isn’t enough to end the underground fire, “which will allow the under layer, which is the root system, the stuff that’s still burning, to pop up and reignite again.”
Rao said it will take several rain events like this one before Massachusetts is able to recover from the drought.
“But that’s not something we have control over,” Rao said. “What we do have control over is our behavior, our decisions and our use.”
Rao said state residents should take steps like shortening showers and fixing leaky faucets, in order to limit water use as the drought persists.
