For most of the summer months, the entire state of Pennsylvania has been under a drought watch. Now for about two-thirds of the state, that watch has been lifted.
Indiana County and the surrounding counties were among the 47 counties that were removed from the drought watch list yesterday after a meeting of the Commonwealth Drought Task Force. This leaves 20 counties, mainly in the Southeast corner of the state, along with Fayette, Cameron, Venango and Clarion counties that are still in the drought watch.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection makes drought watch, warning, or emergency declaration recommendations based on four numeric indicators: stream flow, groundwater level, precipitation, and soil moisture. DEP makes its drought declarations after assessing the departures from these normal ranges for periods of 3-12 months. DEP also factors in information it receives from public water suppliers.
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