It's too soon to close the books on the drought that has plagued New England over the past year, but conditions are steadily improving.
The latest weekly survey by the U.S. Drought Monitor finds a large swath of the Northeast region experiencing moderate drought conditions, while portions of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York are still in what is labeled severe drought.
The only significant portion of the region remaining in extreme drought is a section of western Connecticut that comprises about 28 percent of our state. That’s down from about 39 percent the week before.
Drought conditions in Connecticut forced several areas to institute mandatory water restrictions.
The area of Massachusetts in severe drought or worse has been cut roughly in half over the last three months.
The latest survey by the drought monitor was conducted before the snowstorm that hit the region on Thursday, and ahead of two other storms that could bring significant precipitation.