More than half of Vermont now drought-free, showing significant improvements from last week

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Thursday’s U.S. Drought Monitor update showed the biggest weekly improvement for the region since the drought began. Only 41% of Vermont is still experiencing any form of drought, down from 89% last week.

This is also the first week that extreme drought conditions are no longer present anywhere in Vermont, New York or New Hampshire.

Drought conditions reached their widest extent in mid-October. At that time, 100% of the region was in drought. Extreme drought covered roughly two-thirds of Vermont and more than 50% of New Hampshire on October 14. Gradual improvements began in late October.

Many of the improvements over the past month have been in the Champlain Valley and west of the Green Mountains, but extreme drought conditions maintained their grip on the North