WATER SYSTEM UPDATE 10/20/16

Reservoir:  The Reservoir level increased by another ½ inch on Wednesday.  At 27.5% full we are a long way from where we typically are at this time of year, but it is encouraging to see progress.  The good efforts by our residents and businesses to conserve water enable us to supply our needs from the wells and let the Reservoir recover on its own.

Weather forecast:  Tim Kelley, NECN meteorologist reports -

“It was a big surprise when 0.6" of rain fell early Tuesday pushing our monthly total past 4.5 inches of rainfall in Scituate so far this month, the first above-normal rainfall for a month that we've seen going back as far as I can remember.”

“And there's more rain in the offing.  A complex series of weather fronts, and perhaps input from another tropical system that could be named Otto, will bring more off and on rain for Friday and Saturday.  A rough estimate would be for ½ to an inch of rain by Saturday.”

“Next week should start off with just a few showers Monday then a couple of dry days.  More rain is likely late next week.  We are on the battle zone between winter trying to push south from Canada, and summer warmth and humidity holding strong in the southeastern United States.  An early estimate on rainfall for next week would be another 1 to 2 inches between Thursday and Saturday.  There is potential October will end with more than 6 inches of rain for the month.”

“Last week our official drought category came down a notch from 'extreme' to 'severe' (think of it as going from a 4 to 3 on a 1-5 scale, with 1 being the best.”