Parts of the Finger Lakes region are now in a moderate drought, while the rest of the Rochester area away from the Lake Ontario shoreline is considered “abnormally dry.”
The latest climate maps from the Weather Service United States Drought Monitor show nearly 92 percent of New York State as abnormally dry and about 16 percent actually in drought. Three months ago just over one percent of the state was considered dry.
Parts of Genesee, Orleans, Niagara and Erie Counties fall in the “drought” boundary along with parts of the Finger Lakes counties and Central New York. The monitor says most of these areas have had less than half their normal rainfall the past three months.