Moderate drought status for Long Island, with East End still in severe state, monitors say

Long Island improved its drought status from severe to moderate as of Friday, about 10 days after a Stage 1 water alert was issued for parts of the East End.

The National Integrated Drought Information System announced Long Island is now at moderate drought status, according to this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor. The East End, however, remains in severe drought.

Meteorologist Nelson Vaz said this month's rainfall of 3 to 6 inches helped to alleviate the drought's intensity.

"It is the rainfall, and not necessarily just like kind of one heavy rain, but ... having multiple rain events," Vaz said.

This week alone, Long Island received 1 to 3 inches of rain, with the North Shore seeing as much as 4 inches.

But the East End remains in severe drought, probably because it received less rain and is less likely to experience thunderstorms than the rest of the Island.

"The East End does tend to be the drier in the summer," Vaz said. "The probabilities [of thunderstorms] are less just because it encounters more of the marine air mass, and which tends to weaken these thunderstorms."

Earlier this month, the Suffolk County Water Authority issued a Stage 1 water alert for all customers in the towns of Southold, Shelter Island, Southampton and East Hampton.

The alert remains in effect, SCWA spokesperson Daniel Dubois told Newsday on Friday.

"The rain was helpful for a couple of days," Dubois said. "But once the rain stops, we see those pumpage numbers start to increase again, as customers start watering their lawns. So it gave our team a couple of days of break, but nothing has really changed significantly since then."

Under the alert, odd-numbered street addresses may water only on odd-numbered calendar days, while even-numbered addresses may water only on even-numbered days. No lawn watering is permitted between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the SCWA said.

Vaz said although Nassau and Suffolk counties are in a moderate drought, all of Long Island remains in a rain deficit of from 1 to 2 inches to 4 to 6 inches.

Additional rounds of showers and potential thunderstorms starting on Tuesday could continue to alleviate the deficit.

Vaz also said it’s not abnormal to have a rain deficit in the summer months, as hot temperatures tend to evaporate moisture.

"We're looking at more seasonable temperatures actually throughout the next week," he said. "So not having that high heat should be able to reduce the evaporation a little bit."