Dryness: We’re not used to this
It’s been quite awhile between droughts. Is change in the wind?
Ten years have passed since the region experienced a drought emergency, and that is the longest stretch between such emergencies in Pennsylvania's somewhat limited period of record, dating to 1980.
In fact, recent years have been short on drought advisories of any kind around here.
So it's natural that the recent dry spell has some folks concerned. Officially, no rain has been measured at Philadelphia International Airport since April 21.
The annual average precipitation in Philadelphia is around 40 inches, and since 2003, after a drought emergency ended, Philadelphia has had only one year in which it came in under 40.
That wasn't near drought-worthy -- 35.94 inches, in 2012 -- and the year before that happened to be the wettest on record.
In short, we're out of drought shape.
Although the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has issued a drought watch for an area from Berks County on north toward the New York border, the Philadelphia region does have a ways to go.
The New York Reservoirs remain well above drought triggers, according to the Delaware River Basin Commission.
Still, another drought is all but inevitable. The pattern that locked the West into a punitive dry regime could well reverse.
In the meantime, be grateful for the good fortune, and may it rain again soon.