Maine’s drought situation is getting worse

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff

Without much rain in the last few weeks, Maine is slowly drying up.

Approximately 85 percent of the state is in a moderate drought, with the exception of southern York County, which is in extreme drought, and about 7 percent in the northwestern-most part of Maine, which is abnormally dry.

There were portions of the state that were not affected by drought going into November, but with little rain in that month and a precipitation level already from 40 to 70 percent lower than normal during the fall, the dryer conditions have spread throughout Maine. 

Maine is no stranger to drought conditions. Most recently, it saw significant droughts in 2016 and 2020-2022 that affected wells, farms and water recreation, according to droughts.gov, a website of the National Integrated Drought Information System and NOAA. With just sporadic rain and light snow expected over the next few days, Maine’s drought situation is expected to continue, especially in eastern Maine.

Records for the driest fall were broken in Bangor and Millinocket this fall, and the snow and rain in late November was not enough to ease the drought, according to the National Weather Service’s monthly report. Bangor got a total of 5.07 inches of rain for September, October and November combined. Its normal level is 5 inches for the month of October alone. 

The effects of drought are personal for some residents. People in 10 of Maine’s 16 counties have reported dry wells to the Maine Drought Task Force.

The task force reports at least one dry well in each of the affected counties, including four in York County where conditions are the most severe, for a total of 20 wells thus far. The next highest are Oxford and Kennebec counties, each with three reported.

Dry wells also were reported from Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Hancock, Lincoln, Waldo and Washington counties.

November saw higher than average temperatures, averaging 4 degrees above normal, according to the report. 

It was the warmest fall on record in Caribou, which has kept track since 1939. The average temperature was 48.6 degrees Fahrenheit, slightly warmer than the record high in 2011. Nine of the 10 warmest falls in Caribou have happened since 2001, and seven of them since 2011, according to the National Weather Service.

Data for December has not been compiled yet, but a rain storm on Dec. 12 broke the 137-year-old rainfall record at Portland Jetport for that date. The drought task force releases a new map once a week, and the one reflecting the intense storm has not been issued yet.

Many of the state’s major rivers were reported to have low or below normal water levels in November, according to the Maine Drought Task Force. The recent rain storm that dumped nearly 3 inches in some places raised water levels in some of them, at least temporarily. Many of the rivers have ice now, but no information is available yet on the long-term effect of that storm.

As of mid-November, there was no major impact on agriculture or most water supplies, but with soil conditions also quite dry, the Maine Forest Service has dealt with hundreds of wildfires this fall, totaling 588 as of Nov. 21, according to the most recent summary issued by the Maine Drought Task Force. The record number of wildfires was 1,154 in 2020.

The forest service has suspended its fire danger rankings until spring, according to its website.

Maine’s worst drought peaked in 2002, when approximately 17,000 private wells went dry and crops were lost, according to drought.gov.