Clouds move across the sky as seen from the Donegal Junior High School parking lot on Tuesday, May 28, 2019.
Tim Coover
August’s rainfall ends drought conditions in central Pa.
By Nathan Willison/LNP | LancasterOnline
Tim Coover
Clouds move across the sky as seen from the Donegal Junior High School parking lot on Tuesday, May 28, 2019.
After spending most of the summer in drought conditions, an unusually wet August in Lancaster County has brought rainfall to within normal levels for this point in the year.
“Much of the Susquehanna Valley has been in an abnormally dry or moderate drought state since June,” said Matt Steinbugl, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at State College. “But after the last few weeks of rain we are above normal rainfall levels for the year.”
According to Steinbugl, remnants of Hurricane Debby hitting central Pennsylvania in the beginning of the month ended the drought conditions the region had been in since June.
Kyle Elliott, director of the Millersville University Weather Information Center, says the last few weeks of rainfall have resulted in a substantial rainfall surplus this month.
Through the first 18 days of August, the MU weather center has recorded 6.53 inches of rain. On average, Lancaster County receives about 2.5 inches in that time frame.
Data from the MU weather center shows precipitation levels in May through July were more than a half-inch below normal levels.
While Lancaster County has spent much of the year in a precipitation deficit, August rainfall brought annual precipitation back to about 2 inches above normal for this point in the year.
Elliott is calling for an extended stretch of dry, generally sunny weather for the county, with no additional rain in the forecast until next week.
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