Most people in Maryland will say that the characteristic of Summer 2002 they remember most was how dry it was. Summer 2002 was the peak point of the drought that had officially started in May 2001.
During the week of May 8th, 2001 the U.S. Drought monitor first noted a below-average amount of precipitation in Maryland. Although Maryland wasn't yet in the drought that week, just one week later the status changed from "abnormally dry" to "drought-severe" in central Maryland and the Eastern Shore. For an explanation of the various drought terms, go here. Rain totals went back to near normal for the Eastern and Southern parts of Maryland by June, but central Maryland remained below normal, with an overall drought "watch" issued by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE).
Western Maryland had below average rain totals as well, starting in July. As August proceeded, most of Maryland dipped back into extremely dry conditions, and by September 2001, the drought had returned, and central Maryland was under a warning for low streamflow.
The table provided by MDE shows that for November 2001, rainfall totals were less than 30 percent of the normal, which put most of Maryland in an "emergency" category. By the beginning of 2002, there were parts of Maryland in severe drought conditions, especially on the Eastern Shore. In fact, by mid February, nearly all of Maryland was in a state of severe drought, which is very unusual for winter.
Just one month later, nearly all of Maryland had moved up another notch in drought severity; this time under the category of "drought-extreme". And MDE declared central Maryland to be in imminent emergency in March, indicating it would stay this way for the entire month. This called for a declaration of a drought state of emergency by Governor Glendening. Level one restrictions were put on central Maryland on April 5th 2002, and later that year, Baltimore had restrictions put in effect as of August 27th. You can view the list of restrictions under level one here.
While things had started looking up near the end of May, 2002, and for most of June as well, with drought conditions falling back to severe and even moderate, by August the drought came back with a vengeance. Some areas of Maryland reached their worst conditions during this "exceptional drought". In fact, even after some end of August rainfall, groundwater levels were reported to reach August record lows for nine of the 17 wells used for drought analysis, and four of those wells reported their lowest levels since 1962, when record-keeping began. All 17 wells had below normal amounts of water. For the full article on well levels, click here.
The period between September 2001 through August of 2002 was Maryland's second driest 12 months in the entire 108 year record. And just between January of 2002 and August of 2002, 640 fires burned across 3400 acres of land in Maryland; that's more than the average yearly total.
Maryland wasn't the only state on the East Coast suffering. In fact, all of the East Coast from Maine to Georgia was in the same state of emergency, having to put restrictions on water usage, and even bringing in the "water cops" to keep people from "watering their lawns on the wrong day." A fine for water misuse could be as high as $1000 in North Carolina. And it wasn't just lawns that were suffering from lack of water. Trees shed their leaves early in an attempt to conserve water, and there were even numerous tree deaths that occurred.
Because of October's above normal rainfall and the heavy rainfalls that November brought about, Maryland finally pulled out of the "extreme drought" zone (as defined by the U.S. Drought Monitor), and eventually nearly all of Maryland was into the yellow, "abnormally dry" category (November 12, 2002).
In November, it was declared that the short-term drought was over, but the long term, one and a half year drought was not yet under control. The week of December 17 marked the removal of the "abnormally dry" status throughout most of Maryland. And for a comparison of all the months in 2002, direct your attention to this MDE site.
By February, only Baltimore city was still under water restrictions imposed by the Governor's Office. By March 20th, 2003, all water restrictions had been lifted.
Even though we had below average precipitation amounts for January 2003 (it was ranked the 20th driest January since 1895) and just barely average precipitation amounts for April 2003(ranked 58 out of 109 years; just about average) for most areas of Maryland, it wasn't far enough from the normal to put us anywhere near the drought category. And in fact, we had above normal precipitation in February, March, and May. The largest storm of the winter (the President's Day snow storm) contributed greatly to February's excess precipitation. This storm is documented in our story, winter 2002-2003; coldest in years. Besides substancially above normal amounts of precipitation, May was also noted for the number of days with measurable precipitation (20 out of 31 days). As quoted in a press release by the United States Geological Survey, written on June 4th, 2003,
Cool temperatures and slow-moving storms caused persistent rainfall in during May 2003 that led to an extremely wet month. May 2003 was the wettest month since September 1999, when tropical storm Floyd engulfed the region, according to the National Weather Service. It was the sixth wettest May for Washington, D.C. and the seventh wettest May for Baltimore. For full story, go here.
It may be easier to visualize exactly what we went through by taking a look at maps provided by the National Climatic Data Center. A series of maps starting with June 2002, and going through May 2003 shows us where we were in the drought back in June of 2002, and progresses through each month up to where we are now, completely out of drought conditions. Another version of our status in the drought can be seen in a series of 24-month-period maps (from February 2001-January 2003 to June 2001-May 2003). These maps end up showing that all of Maryland is out of the drought (and some of the state has passed into the "extremely moist" category).
Another great resource for comparing periods of time and drought conditions comes from this table, published by the Marlyand Department of the Environment. It summarizes precipitation amounts back from May 31 2003, ranging from three months back to six, twelve, and even to September 1st, 2001. It also summarizes the Water Year (WY) to date, which means from October of 2002. As you can see, we're nearly normal for the period from September of 2001, and in some areas we've gone above normal amounts of rain (Frederick and Montgomery Counties, for example). When you look at the twelve month departure from normal, you see just one negative sign (meaning only one county's twelve month precipitation total is below normal). Not only does this show that our short-term drought is behind us, but also that we've conquered the long-term drought as well. And to sum up 2003, here are the MDE current condition charts. As of the end of May 2003, everything was in perfect shape.
So, how does this drought compare to our other droughts in the past? Although it wasn't intense enough to rival the 1930-1931 dustbowl, it was comparable in severity with the worst portion of our drought back in the 60's. Take a look at this table of precipitation amounts during each drought. For each drought we show precipitation deficits for a thirteen-month period (e.g., from 2001-2002, 1998-1999, 1964-1965, and 1930-1931). As you can see, the departures from normal are all roughly comparable. However, in most areas of Maryland the deficits were not quite as large during the 2001-2002 drought as they were back in the 1930's. You'll find that our 2001-2002 drought comes in at either 2nd or 3rd worst, depending on county. In fact, as quoted in a story by USA Today, written on August 17, 2002,
About 40% of the nation is in a severe drought, said Mark Svoboda a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska. Usually only about 10% of the nation is in a state of drought. Nationally, Svoboda said, this is probably the third worst drought in history after the droughts in the 1930s and 1950s. The New England and Mid-Atlantic states suffered a very dry winter, dropping groundwater levels, Svoboda said. After a few showers improved conditions in May and June, July was extremely dry, and projections for the next few months aren't encouraging.
Another point to make is that the summer of 2002 was recorded as the Nation's third hottest summer (story here), conditions which certainly worsened the drought. For further comparisons on the severe droughts of Maryland, check out our story entitled, "1998-1999 Drought Information."