Big rains easy New Jersey drought

The Delaware River might be flooding heavily right now if the summer had not been so dry.

All the rain in parts of New Jersey is easing drought concerns.

The western portion of the Garden State got the most rain from the remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole. More than seven inches fell in Warren County.

State climatologist Dave Robinson says it’s quite a change from six consecutive months of below-normal precipitation.

“You can’t declare a drought period over with one major event but you certainly can declare major concerns in terms of water supply conditions at least in the short term over when you get such heavy rainfall.”

Robinson says if dry conditions during the summer had not caused the level of the Delaware River to drop all the recent rain would have caused major flooding.
He says it’s too soon to tell if a new weather pattern is developing that will bring the state more abundant rainfall.