Labor Day Rain Eases Drought In Burlington Area: Drought Monitor

BURLINGTON, MA — Heavy rains earlier this week eased drought conditions across much of Massachusetts, the U.S. Drought Monitor said in a drought update on Thursday.

That marked good news for Burlington, which has been hit hard by the drought to date.

Although the extreme drought area shrunk to no longer include Burlington, the town is still experiencing “severe drought” conditions, according to the Drought Monitor. A full local outdoor watering ban remained in effect as of Friday, and 9% of the state remained under extreme drought conditions.

A difficult summer with little rainfall has prompted many communities across the state to implement water restrictions.

Burlington has faced its share of challenges, watching its Mill Pond Reservoir's water level drop while simultaneously being unable to pump water from the Shawsheen River in town.

Outside of resulting water restrictions, residents have heard repeated warnings this summer of increased fire danger due to dry soil and vegetation in area habitats.

That danger manifested recently when roughly 80 acres of the Breakheart Reservation in Saugus burned beginning last month, according to Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) estimates. The fires sent smoke over area communities at times and continued to smolder underground in some places even after the DCR announced a partial reopening of the reservation last week.

It would take several days of rainfall to completely extinguish those hotspots, DCR officials said.

Finally helping pull Burlington out of its extreme drought, rain this past weekend was a welcome sight for many, bringing massive rainfall to parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut while also dropping steady rain through Central Massachusetts and some areas north of Boston.

One weather spotter report from the National Weather Service on Tuesday measured at least 2.02 inches of rain in Bedford as of 8:51 a.m. Another report documented 2.48 inches inches in Lexington about an hour earlier. One Medford report noted 1.26 inches around 7 a.m..

The forecast is now clear through the weekend, with no more rain predicted until Monday, according to Accuweather.