The extreme drought in the northwest corner of the Kenai Peninsula has been downgraded to a severe drought in this week’s updated map from the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The map and data, which is updated every Thursday, shows the rest of the Kenai Peninsula was also downgraded from a severe drought to a moderate drought.
Since Sept. 10, the drought on the peninsula has been waning, due to a recent wet weather trend. The past week has brought 1 to 3 inches of rain over much of the drought areas in the state, and the seven-day rainfall on the Kenai Peninsula totaled as much as 3.92 inches.
More rain is needed to rid the drought, though, the summary said.
Kenai has had an abnormally dry summer. Between June 1 and Aug. 31, the city of Kenai received 1.73 inches of rainfall, according to the National Weather Service office in Anchorage. As of Thursday afternoon, the Kenai area had received 3.69 inches of rain in September, according to data from the National Weather Service, which is slightly above the September monthly average for the area of 3.43 inches of precipitation during the whole month.
In Kenai, there’s a chance of rain on Sunday and Monday, the National Weather Service is forecasting.