Maine’s drought continues to worsen.

As of Thursday, Spectrum meteorologists said more than 16% of the state is in an extreme drought, up 4% from last week. 

Additionally, the most recent data from the U.S. Drought Monitor puts the majority of the state in moderate to severe drought conditions.

“You now have 100% of the state that’s either abnormally dry or in some type of drought,” said Britney Hamilton, Spectrum News meteorologist. “And then about 70% of the state is in a level of drought right now.”

Thursday, experts met virtually for this season’s second meeting of the Maine Drought Task Force to share updates on the situation and look to the future.

The team is ordinarily made up of state, federal and industry leaders. However, representatives from the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Geological Survey were notably absent due to the federal government shutdown.

The Maine Forest service said there have been 747 wildfires this year alone, up from the 662 reported at the last task force meeting, and the service is on alert with the arrival of fall.

And the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry is anticipating negative agricultural impacts into the winter. 

“We’re expecting that this is going to have significant impacts on hay crops,” said Tom Gordon of the Maine DACF. “With long-term costs for dairy and other livestock operations as they will be forced to purchase feed for their animals to get them through the winter.

Gordon added that the Maine DACF does have a Farmers Drought Relief Fund.

Additionally, 306 dry wells in the state are being reported, and significant impacts to hay crops are expected through the winter months.

Dry wells can be reported through MEMA.

To exit drought conditions, the National Weather Service said Maine needs 6 to 12 inches more rainfall than the average amount before the winter sets in. Otherwise, the state may be looking at a longer-term drought.

“Without being able to recharge the groundwater, we’re going to stay locked in,” said Sarah Jamison, the senior service hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Gray. “We will be capped at whatever drought classification we are at when the ground freezes, and that will be our starting point for the next warm season.”

And Spectrum meteorologists said that the rainfall needs to be spread out over a period of time.

“You don’t want a lot of rain all at one time, because that causes other issues with flooding,” said Hamilton. “And we’re talking about a lot of days, because again we don’t want it all at one time, but we do need it to help saturate the ground.”

Hamilton added that one issue behind the ongoing drought is the lack of moisture in weather systems that have come through the state.

“It’s been very dry. It’s sort of been bad luck I would say, in a bit of a sense,” said Hamilton. “Sometimes we’ll get systems, and they’ll move through the Great Lakes region, and by the time it gets to Maine, all the moisture is gone, there’s just not much left really to drop into the area.” 

And, though there is a chance for rain in Maine in the 7-to-10-day forecast, Hamilton said significant rainfall is not likely.

“We are going to have low pressure systems that push through the state,” said Hamilton. “But getting some heavy rainfall that can really help saturate the ground right now, doesn’t look to be in the cards for at least the next couple of weeks.”

Spectrum meteorologists added that the one to four inches of rainfall in parts of Maine last week was beneficial and helped to slow the drought, but the rain struggled to reach deep soil.