Posted by Michele Tremblay, president of The New Hampshire Rivers Council writes, “I am saddened to report that two rivers, the Exeter and the Spicket are no longer running. When we think of rivers, a lot of words and pictures come to mind: water, flow, torrent, source-to-sea… For these two rivers, none of those words or pictures apply right now.”
“Nationally and here in New Hampshire, drought levels are measured by what rivers are doing-and what they aren’t. There are several rivers that have experienced their lowest flows since data were first collected. As you can see from the map on the left below, all of our state is “Below normal” or the worst of the four categories, “Extreme hydrologic drought.” In the map on the right, we can see that several areas that are experiencing record low flows.”
To find out current drought conditions and flows, you can track the conditions of rivers by visiting http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/ and hovering over the “Drought” link in the list on the left and selecting “Drought table.” From there, you can select the entire State of New Hampshire or an area of interest to you. Additional drought data are available at http://des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/water/dam/drought/index.htm
Source: NH Rivers Council News Splash newsletter, October 2016
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