The Philadelphia region is dry, and parts of New Jersey are in a drought

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- It's been a largely dry summer, so you may be wondering: Is the Philadelphia region actually in a drought?

The National Weather Service defines drought as "a deficiency of precipitation over an extended period of time (usually a season or more), resulting in a water shortage."

There's another definition: "a deficiency of moisture that results in adverse impacts on people, animals, or vegetation over a sizeable area."

Now that we know the official meaning, we can ask:

So, Are We in a Drought?

Even though it's been very dry over the past six weeks, most of our viewing area is not in a drought.

Since June 1, when the meteorological summer began, Philadelphia is only a little bit more than 2" in a deficit.

Normally, the city would receive 11.37" of rain between June 1 and Aug. 21.

But it's parts of New Jersey that have been the driest.

The Garden State issued a Drought Watch earlier this month for the first time since 2016.

About two weeks ago, there was a small bullseye in Cumberland County in what the US Drought Monitor considers a "Moderate" drought.

However, the following week, that was expanded to include parts of Cape May and Atlantic counties.

The northern portion of Mercer County is also now in a "Moderate" drought.

In Trenton, the average from June 1 to Aug. 21 is 11.6" of rain. This year, New Jersey's capital has only seen 6" of rain.

In Atlantic City, Atlantic County, the average is 11.31", with this summer's tally so far being 8.02".

So the bottom line is that a few places in our area are considered to be in a drought, but the entire area is in need of more precipitation.

Quiet Tropics

We often get most of our rain this time of year from topical systems. But the tropics have been very quiet so far this season, and unusually so for August.

During August, we usually see the tropics ramp up with activity.

Though, the height of tropical activity comes around Sept. 10 - so we do have a good ways to go.

There have been no Atlantic storms since early July.

It's rare to have no August storms. That's only happened once in the past 56 years.

The tropics are expected to become more active as the summer winds down.

And while we picked up some good rain in parts of the area on Aug. 22, we need some more. And in some places, a lot more.