Drought conditions in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut saw minor improvement this week, according to the latest report out Thursday, though challenges persist in spots, especially for the Garden State.
While parts of northern New Jersey saw improvement, moderate drought conditions expanded deeper into Ocean County. New Jersey is now at 70.15% moderate drought or worse, the first time since February 2017 that the state has seen moderate-or-worse drought coverage that high. The share with severe drought has ebbed though since last week.
Most other tri-state zones saw little change. Three of New York City's five boroughs are in the severe drought category -- Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn -- which is an improvement from the first map released this month. Both Long Island counties also remain in severe drought status.
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As for Connecticut, the entire state is still enduring at least moderate drought conditions, while a portion of New London County is considered to be in extreme drought status. That hasn't changed since last week.