All-day rain takes the edge off drought, but it's still here

UNION, New Jersey (PIX11) -- It rained all day across the tri-state region on Tuesday, with some areas north and east of New York City getting between 2 inches to 3 inches of precipitation. However, most of central and northern New Jersey, Long Island and New York City received about an inch or so of rain.

Much of the region has been in a moderate to severe drought for a month now, and therefore welcomed the rainfall. Still, it appears that the effect of Tuesday's storm on the drought situation may not be as significant as some people had hoped.

Kathy, a resident of Roselle Park, New Jersey, made clear that she's wanted rain badly all summer, and finally it's happened.

"It's been raining all day," said Kathy, who declined to give her last name. "Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus."

"We need this rain so bad," she continued. "This is a nice slow steady rain, being absorbed into the ground. I wish it were going into the proper reservoir for drinking, bathing and cooking, but something is better than nothing," she said.

Kathy lives in Union County, which has the second greatest deficit of rain in New Jersey -- 6.5 inches below its normal rainfall level for this time of year.

James Tomasini, a National Weather Service meteorologist who officially monitored Tuesday's storm, also said that while the rain is welcome throughout the region, "for drought conditions to get better, you kind of need a long, light duration rainfall event."

While Tuesday's rains were relatively light, and all day long, that's not really enough, Tomasini said. Instead, a series of days like Tuesday's all-day soaker is what's needed. Nothing like it is in the forecast.

"We unfortunately are looking dry at least until the beginning of next weekend," Tomasini said. "So no relief there."

Instead, water conservation measures called for by the local water utility earlier this summer remain in place. It's why some local residents were perfectly content with rain that lasted from before sun up to early evening on Tuesday.

"I'll take it," said Joe Boyd, who was out for a wet walk with his two dogs. "Everyone loves a beautiful lawn. [The rain will] clean up some of these brown patches," he said.

Lukas Macioszek was headed to his daughter's school orientation in Tuesday's rain. "The whole country needs rain," he said, "but we're happy to have it here."