SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – It has been a dry summer, and as a result, local rivers and lakes are running low. But the drought may be a bigger problem than you think.

Indeed according to the United States Drought Monitor, much of western Massachusetts is now in a severe drought, with all of Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin County at least in a “moderate” drought. Western areas of Berkshire County are considered “abnormally dry,” but are not officially in a drought at this point.

With less than 20 inches of rain in the lower Pioneer Valley all year, when we should have had more than 25″, our rainfall deficit keeps growing. It’s easy to see the dry lawns and plants that need continued watering just to survive, but the impacts are bigger than that.

The Connecticut River is less than half as full as it should be for this time of year, and in fact, in Holyoke there are now exposed rocks where water should be flowing.

The drought isn’t just a problem for this year. Since last summer, some places in western Massachusetts have had 10-15 inches less rain than normal. If we don’t get rain, fall foliage may be impacted.

“You’re going to see a lot of shallow-rooted trees drop their foliage on the ground. Things like red maples, birch trees, things like that. Leaf drop when we don’t normally. August isn’t normally the time leaves usually fall off, but they are right now,” Andy Grondalski of Sixteen Acres Garden Center said.

Summer thunderstorms have not been widespread enough to help much, and if there is too much rain at once, the rain runs off into the drains and doesn’t soak in.

Bill Makowiec of Indian Orchard says he cannot recall a year this dry before. “Not for this long that I can remember. I remember rainy summers that we’ve had in the past, but not this extended period of time that we are seeing now,” Makowiec said.

Conservation and more rain are the only things that will help.