00:00Some of the driest conditions in the country are unfolding here in the Northeast.
00:06And from New England to the Mid-Atlantic, communities are still facing rainfall deficits and mounting concerns for farmers and families.
00:13Our Allie Reed is live this morning from Washington Crossing, Washington's Crossing in Pennsylvania with more.
00:19Hey, Allie.
00:20It looks a little eerie, Allie, this morning behind you.
00:24Good morning, Melissa.
00:25Oh, yeah, Melissa, Bernie, I was going to say, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you.
00:31The fog is really that intense behind me here in Pennsylvania this morning.
00:35That's on the Jersey side, too.
00:36Just to give you some history, you know, Washington Crossing, it's called that because this is where George Washington crossed the Delaware.
00:44So we kind of are in that spot where New Jersey, just a hop, skip it away from where we are live this morning.
00:49But I think that's important to add because the drought, while we're seeing consistencies across Pennsylvania and New Jersey and places like West Virginia as well, this is expanding far beyond just the Mid-Atlantic.
01:02This is going up even north of here in New England as well.
01:05And it's pretty severe up that way, places like Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
01:10And this is causing some significant consequences for those that somewhat are living here in Pennsylvania and Jersey, but really impacting those in New England as well.
01:20I want to take this some video.
01:21This is a gorgeous drone shot of both New Hampshire and Vermont from what you're about to just see.
01:26But this gives you a good idea.
01:28Fall foliage, absolutely gorgeous.
01:31But the drought is the concern that we're dealing with and something you may not see when you're looking at those beautiful shots from above, right?
01:37But across New England, those fields are really drying out at alarming rates in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine.
01:43Again, some farmers are already reporting total crop losses this year.
01:47Hay that would normally be stored away to feed cattle through the winter simply isn't growing, forcing farmers to buy feed at higher costs.
01:56Communities are seeing wells and reservoirs dip, while low stream and river flows are adding pressure on ecosystems.
02:01When soil becomes this depleted, experts warn it raises serious concerns about what planting season will look like next spring.
02:10That uncertainty extends beyond farms, touching recreation, water supplies and the environment itself.
02:16A ripple effect climatologists say is unfolding across the region.
02:20Lake levels, because they're so low, particularly in Lake Champlain, we're getting to points that we haven't seen since 1941.
02:27And that has implications for boating.
02:31It also has implications for lake species.
02:33So we've got the biology.
02:35We have recreation.
02:37We have farming.
02:38We have everything across the board in terms of who's affected both on the western side of the state, the eastern side of the state, north and south.
02:46That ripple effect extends far beyond Vermont even, too, right?
02:53We talked about states like Pennsylvania, where I'm live this morning, West Virginia and New Jersey.
02:57The call is growing for residents to cut back on water use.
03:01And experts stress drought doesn't stop at those state lines, right?
03:05Whether it's farmers, families or ecosystems, everyone feels the impact when water runs low.
03:10Now, of course, the best thing would be if we could get rain in these states.
03:16That is what we look for when you're dealing with something like this significant drought that the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, New England is really facing right now.
03:25But, of course, even in states like here in Pennsylvania, I think people forget because it maybe isn't they aren't seeing it or it's not directly impacting them like it might be in Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire, right?
03:37They're seeing some significant problems.
03:38I'm hearing that there are people up that way that don't even have water in their house right now.
03:43So that's a problem certainly up in New England.
03:46But places like here where I'm live in Pennsylvania today, conserving water is your best bet.
03:50It's only going to help because, as you just heard, these droughts do not stop guys across state lines.
03:57So it's a regional issue.
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