Drought in Delaware, October 1 to 31, 2002

For the first time since March, every county in Delaware was wetter than normal during October. Precipitation in most areas was greater than twice of normal. A slow moving warm front on the 10th and 11th and a strong northeaster on the 16th alone produced more than the normal monthly precipitation for October. On a county weighted average October monthly precipitation was 7.0 inches in New Castle County, 7.4 inches in Sussex County and 8.1 inches in Kent County. Normal is around 3.1 inches. Groundwater wells in Delaware entered October in poor shape. In spite of near normal September precipitation, 13 of 17 monitoring wells in Maryland and Delaware were below normal, 9 set new monthly records for September and 7 set all-time record lows. Private wells in southern New Castle County dropped by as much as 25 feet. After normal precipitation in September, surface water supplies showed improvement in northern New Castle County. On October 1st, the Hoopes Reservoir was nearly full as water companies no longer needed to draw water from it to supplement their primary supply from streams. A drought emergency remained in effect for New Castle County north of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Conditions improved markedly on the 10th and 11th as heavy rain moved through the state. The rain was so heavy that the Christina River flooded. Around three to four inches of rain fell across the state. Gaged streams went from record or near record lows on the 9th to record highs on the 11th. Even before the heavy rain, water usage in northern New Castle County was about 10 million gallons a day below target levels. After the heavy rain, the Hoopes Reservoir was full and spilling into the Red Clay Creek. The base flow on area streams was closer to normal. On October 11th, Governor Minner upgraded the drought emergency to drought warning status in northern New Castle County. The remainder of the state remained in drought warning status. The governor urged residents and businesses to continue to voluntarily conserve water. The University of Delaware at Newark lifted its charcoal and gas grill ban. By the end of the month, stream flow across northern Delaware returned to normal levels. The rain came too late to help farmers with their summer crops. On the 18th, United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman declared a drought disaster in several states including Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. Farmers were eligible to apply for low interest loans through the Farm Service Agency provided they can not get a loan from at least two commercial lenders. Compensation was also given for farmers who were raising livestock under the Livestock Compensation Program. Many had to dip into corn supplies that were usually saved for winter. The poultry industry had to import corn from other states. The drought was expected to cause a 16 to 21 million dollar drop in revenue for corn and soybean farmers in the state. Corn yields were down about 33 percent and soybean yields were down about 41percent. Vegetable farmers did better because of irrigation. Potatoes did not suffer from the drought. The drought had ripple effects in other parts of the agricultural industry. Less revenue meant less money to buy new equipment, fertilizers and seed. The drought had other affects away from the farms. Lawn renovations were down 70 percent. The drought depleted breeding areas (milkweed plants) for monarch butterflies. The drought was expected to dull the fall foliage display . The lack of rain caused some trees to lose leaves prematurely and was expected to exact a toll on trees in general. State agencies were devising plans to increase water supplies further for the next drought. For example, capacity in the Hoopes Reservoir was going to be increased by 500 million gallons. The city of Newark was building a new reservoir. The October monthly precipitation in Georgetown was 6.70 inches and at the New Castle County Airport was 6.15 inches (7th wettest on record). The New York City reservoirs at the headwaters of the Delaware River increased from 50.4 percent of capacity on October 1st to 57.6 percent of capacity on November 1st. For the first time since early 2001, the New York City Delaware Basin reservoirs had more capacity than normal .