Ongoing drought conditions on Cape and Islands despite rain
CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – More rain fell across western Massachusetts Wednesday night and Thursday morning, something we've seen quite a bit of this spring.
The rain might not be welcome for outdoor activities, but it has eliminated the drought we had been dealing with for quite a while.
Last fall, severe drought conditions led to brush fires all across western Massachusetts. Fortunately, this spring, a change in the weather pattern brought us rain, and it keeps on coming.
22News Meteorologist Chris Bouzakis says, 'We've seen so much rain this month, many areas around or over 6 inches of rain for the month, which is double our average for the month, so with all the rain, the drought is gone.'
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor continues to show no drought or even abnormally dry conditions here in western Massachusetts. However, they continue to experience moderate drought and abnormally dry conditions on the Cape and the Islands.
The wet weather we've been getting has been beneficial, and all the rain we've been getting has made all the trees and grass nice and green. Lawns have been growing pretty quickly, and it has been a challenge to find a dry day to get out and mow the grass. All the rain did make river levels come up a bit, but right now it looks like the rivers continue to slowly recede. And right now, there are some indications that June could be a drier month.
'It's looking right now as we go into June, we're going to start to see a little bit more of an average rainfall, or some drier weather will start to set up a little bit. I don't see any significant rain going into the first week of June,' adds Bouzakis.
And while it may look drier next month, it looks like we still have more rain to deal with before May comes to an end.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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