May 24, 2012 - Most of May has brought variable amounts of rainfall to the southern portion of the MARFC service area, which is fairly typical for summer. Most of the southern portion of the MARFC service area has had near normal to 3 1/2 inches above normal rainfall. The southern half of Delaware and most of the region surrounding the Chesapeake Bay are running an inch or two below normal. Over the past 90 days, the dry area has been Delaware, central and eastern Maryland, and a small portion of central Virginia where precipitation has been running 2 to 4 inches below normal. The wet area has been in western Virginia where precipitation has been running 2 to nearly 4 inches above normal. Elsewhere, precipitation amounts are near average plus or minus up to an inch or so. Temperatures in 2012 have been very warm so far. For the period January through April, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia have experienced the warmest start to any year on record and West Virginia is in its' third warmest on record. To date, May has continued this string of above normal temperatures.

Current (May 24) streamflow data from the U.S. Geological Survey indicates that streamflows are running generally near or above normal. Also on May 24, U.S. Geological Survey groundwater data show that monitoring wells are generally near normal for much of the southern portion of the MARFC service area. In the vicinity of the Chesapeake Bay, groundwater wells are running below or much below normal.

The US Drought Monitor, as of May 22, shows that some of southern Delaware is in a severe drought. The rest of southern Delaware and eastern Maryland are in a moderate drought. An small area of abnormally dry conditions surrounds this area. Drought coverage has decreased over the past couple of weeks as a result of recent rainfall. The state of Maryland has issued a drought watch for the western, central, and eastern portions of the state. Drought declarations, if any, are issued by individual states.

The outlook period into the first week or so of June calls for near normal rainfall through the Memorial Day weekend but then above normal rainfall afterwards. Temperatures are expected to be above normal, if not much above normal, through the Memorial Day weekend but return to near normal levels afterwards. The Climate Prediction Center's 30 day outlook for June and the 90 day outlook for June through August, the summer months, calls for near average precipitation and above average temperatures.

In summary, the southern portion of the MARFC region has sufficient water resources and water supplies. Recent rainfall has been beneficial and has helped to ease the dry/drought conditions in many areas. However, not all areas have received the above average rains and a return to a dry weather pattern could lead to a resumption of drought conditions.

End.