Wednesday, October 23, 2024

New York/New Jersey Metropolitan Area Experiencing Record Drought


Pictures taken in New York City during a rain storm late in the summer of 2021. 






Usually at this time of the year here in the greater New York/New Jersey metropolitan region, we experience quite a bit of rain. It's just one of those things, one of the distinguishing features of local weather. We generally obtain quite a lot of rain in both the spring and the fall.

My own assumption reflected this, as well. I had simply assumed that the lack of rain which we were then experiencing in August would soon end. Surely there would be autumn rains, as there pretty much always is during this time of the year.

Now, I did go away for a week for a trip, and experienced plenty of rain. It rained a bit during my visit to London, and it rained quite a lot during my trip in and around Cape Town.

Yet when I got back, I had heard that it did not rain. And now, the news keeps reporting on our current drought, which is now entering record territory. 

Really, this is unusual. Shocking, even.

This is even more the case since we are currently, in the past few days, experiencing high temperatures which make it feel a lot more like summer than approaching the midpoint of autumn. It felt more unusual than "Indian Summer" days, especially since the grass feels (and is beginning to look a bit) like dried hay.

People seem not to be paying too much attention here. At least, not yet.

But earlier this year, it seemed like we were getting plenty of rain. More than average for a while there, even.

Now, however, I suspect that we must be approaching a point when there might be serious discussion of measures to preserve our water. 

I wrote that particular sentence before running into the article below, where measures to be taken under a drought are indeed being considered for New York City, as reported in a recent article in Newsweek (see link below).

The unusually dry conditions are making this part of the world more susceptible to wildfires than we normally otherwise would be, if we got the amount of rain which we normally would have gotten by this time of the year.

According to the recent article (see link below) in Newsweek by Anna Skinner which I already mentioned:

NWS meteorologist Dominic Ramunni said that New Yorkers should start taking precautions in response to the dry conditions, according to the report. Recently, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy asked citizens to voluntarily conserve water amid moderate and severe drought across the state, and New York City could follow suit, Gothamist said.

Governor Murphy is, for now, asking New Jersey residents to voluntarily begin to take action to restrict their water usage. New York may follow suit. But how long will it be before mandatory measures are required, if we do not get some significant precipitation in the near future?

Yet all I hear on the weather reports in the news is how we just miss received precipitation. As of the last report I saw (this morning, if memory serves correctly), there really is no significant rainfall in the immediate forecast.

We need some rain. Badly, quite frankly.

Again, this does not feel normal. This feels unnatural, like how it seems that climate change is altering our weather patterns. 




Below is the link to the article which I used in obtaining much of the specific information used above, and which was referenced at points in writing the above blog entry:




New York City Could Start Implementing Water Restrictions by Anna Skinner Senior Writer for Newsweek, General Assignment, Published Oct 21, 2024:

https://www.newsweek.com/new-york-city-water-restrictions-drought-1972273

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