Snowfall early this winter is beginning to turn the tide on the region’s drought, but only just, as Hillsborough and Cheshire counties continue to be more than 13 inches of precipitation behind normal for the past year.
According to the state Department of Environmental Services, eight out of New Hampshire’s 10 counties are behind, but those are the two with the most severe conditions, and only a perfect winter and spring can help.
“We really need a lot of snow this winter and we need a real slow, gradual thaw this spring,” Jim Martin, DES public information officer, said. “And we are continuing to watch precipitation closely.”
Martin said the last three months have improved upon the historically dry summer, and that there has been above normal precipitation in December.
But because the ground is frozen from cold temperatures, virtually no new groundwater is being absorbed.
Come spring when the ground thaws, it may become saturated if the snow melts too fast and some water could be lost as runoff into rivers and carried to other areas. That’s why a gradual melting period is important, and why experts are not getting too excited about the wet December.
“We’re by no means out of the woods as the drought goes,” Martin said.
Because so little new water is entering the ground, more wells will dry this winter.
“You don’t really think about a drought in the winter,” he said. “People with wells, they really need to be aware and then need to conserve water just like hopefully they have been.”
Brandon Latham can be reached at blatham@ledgertranscript.com.