BUFFALO, N.Y. — The U.S. Drought Monitor has only a small portion of the Western New York area under Moderate Drought conditions still, with most spots returning to normal conditions and a few spots still under Abnormally Dry conditions. Northern Pennsylvania is back to normal conditions.
All of Niagara and Orleans counties are back to normal conditions now, as well as most of Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties (as seen on the map above). This is thanks to rounds of rain over the past month and a half. August rainfall was above average for most of the month. Much of Wyoming county and the extreme southern part of Genesee county is under Moderate drought conditions, and the remaining few spots are under Abnormally Dry conditions.
It was a very dry start to the warm season. June 10 marked 21 consecutive days of no measurable rain at the Buffalo Airport since 1938, which ranks ninth for driest stretches on record, according to National Weather Service records. If you look at data since the 1870s, it's tied for the top-18 driest stretches.
And not a lot of rain fell for the months of May and June with most days being without rain. May fell well below average with rainfall, and June was about an inch below the monthly average for rain.
However, July had well above average rainfall with 5.54 inches of rain recorded at the Buffalo Airport. The average for the month is 3.23 inches.
As of Aug. 24, the rain totals for the month are running above average at 2.63 inches of rain received so far. The average is 2.40 inches. The month ended with around average rainfall. The monthly temperatures were running about 2.5 degrees below average which also helps keep the rain in the soil further and not evaporate it quickly back out into the lower atmosphere as much.
RELATED VIDEO: