Eastern Orange County remains under a severe drought while all remaining portions of the county continue under a moderate drought, according to data released today by a partnership through several federal government agencies.
Orange County was first placed under a drought in July of 2022 amid several heat waves and a prolonged lack of rain. The county was placed under an “abnormally dry” drought on July 16 before being upgraded to a moderate drought on August 4 and then a severe drought on August 11.
The U.S. Drought Monitor is a partnership between the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Recent rains have not helped the drought much as water basins and ground water levels dropped to the point where it is taking a lengthy period of time to recover.
According to data collected at Vail’s Gate Tower, a weather tower operated by The Newburgh News, LLC, October of 2022 brought 2.99″ of rain, compared to 5.41″ of rain in October of 2021 and 3.6″ of rain in October of 2020.
All of July and August this year only brought a total of 3.45″ of rain, compared to 9.03″ for the same two-month period last year and 7.15″ for the same period in 2020.
The current forecast, live weather alerts, real-time weather conditions, and much more can be seen here at Vail’s Gate Tower.
