PORTLAND, Maine - More than 1.2 million Maine residents are now living in drought-affected areas. That's an estimate from the U.S. Drought Monitor. New numbers today show that almost 70 percent of the state is now in a drought.
The drought has been more severe in parts of southern Maine, but conditions haven't worsened there in the last few weeks. But National Weather Service hydrologist Tom Hawley says the continuing dry weather means the drought is getting worse in the north and eastern parts of the state.
"We've seen an expansion over the last two or three weeks of drought areas in the state of Maine," Hawley says. "Before, northern Maine wasn't even in the drought area, but they're in an abnormally dry area right now."
Last year's mild winter and the dry summer have created Maine's worst drought in 15 years; Hawley says it would take several months of higher-than-normal precipitation to turn things around, and that doesn't seem to be in the cards.
