Rainfall early Monday morning brought welcome respite to local farmers and gardeners who’ve had to do more watering with hoses and irrigation equipment this summer than normal, as low precipitation levels are leaving fields parched and stressing reservoirs.

The U.S. Drought Monitor, a service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has classified the region as being in a “moderate drought,” because of rainfall levels that are more than 11 inches below the normal average for the year to date, Gary Lessor, meteorologist and assistant director with The Weather Center at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, said Monday. Just 19.4 inches of rain have fallen since Jan. 1, he said, with very dry conditions continuing through June and July. Much of the rest of New England is in moderate to severe drought conditions, and temperatures have been up to 11 degrees above normal, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“It’s extremely significant,” Lessor said.

August thus far has seen 3.33 inches of rain, slightly higher than the monthly average, including heavy rains on Aug. 11.

“Ten days ago we got about four inches of rain, so everything is very green now,” said Pauline Lord, owner of White Gate Farm in East Lyme.

Before the recent rains, she said, she was forced to feed dry hay and commercial feed to nine lambs being raised there this year, because there was no grass for them to graze on in the pasture.

Vegetable crops at the farm, she said, are doing well with irrigation from wells on the farm and water from nearby Pattagansett Lake. But due to the prolonged heat wave, winter squash has ripened earlier than normal, Lord said.

At Becky’s Farm & Garden in Waterford, manager Becky Scott said irrigation of the fields there from wells on the property has kept the cut flowers, sunflowers planted in a maze, Indian corn and pumpkins growing. But the pumpkins turned deep orange two weeks ago, she said.

“They usually don’t ripen until mid-September,” she said. “This summer’s been really warm.”

Jude Boucher, who works with vegetable farmers at the University of Connecticut Extension Service, said many farmers around the state are seeing their pumpkins ripening well before the peak time for selling them in the fall.

“The high temperatures have pushed things along,” he said. “It’ll be hard for them to hold them until Halloween.”

Many sweet corn fields around the state have been stressed by the drought, and corn supplies are low and ears smaller than normal, Boucher said. Despite the losses, he said, there are still abundant fruits and vegetables to be found at farm stands and farmers markets around the state.

“There are still some nice crops coming in from the fields,” particularly from farms that irrigate, he said. “It’s more important than ever to buy from them now.”

Because of the drought, three of the public water systems that serve the region have instituted voluntary conservation measures. The East Lyme system asked customers to reduce outdoor water use on Aug. 8, while Aquarion Water Co., which serves about 8,800 people in Mystic and Stonington, on July 14 asked customers to curtail outdoor watering to twice a week.

Peter Fazekas, spokesman for Aquarion, said the Mystic reservoir is at 56 percent of capacity, about 24 percent below the normal average for this time of year. If it drops to 45 percent of capacity, he said, further conservation steps will be taken.

One of the small water systems managed by the Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority has also asked customers to conserve water. The wells that serve the Montville Manor neighborhood “were at the point where they just couldn’t keep up,” said Josh Cansler, general manager of the authority. All the other systems that serve about 2,800 homes in Stonington, North Stonington, Ledyard and Montville have adequate supply, he said.

Water levels also remain sufficient at the reservoirs that supply customers in New London and Waterford, said Joe Lanzafame, New London public utilities director, and at Groton Public Utilities, said Rick Stevens, manager of water treatment and reservoirs there.

“We think we’ll be able to get through the rest of the summer without having to use the emergency pump station” or limit water use, said Lanzafame, referring to the equipment used to increase water supplies. “Overall our reservoirs are at about 50 percent capacity, which is typical for us right now.”

A new pump station that reaches a deep part of the its main reservoir began operating in May, giving the New London system access to new supplies from a previously unreachable area of Lake Konomoc.

At Norwich Public Utilities, reservoir capacity is at about 80 percent, triggering a “water supply advisory,” said Chris Riley, NPU spokesman. Under the advisory, the utility conducts an assessment of water supply and planning for continued drought, he said. If the system falls to 70 percent of capacity, a “water supply watch” is triggered.

“We’ve already had a series of internal discussion on how we will operate our system in the days and weeks ahead,” he said.

Lessor said the prospects for significant rainfall in the near future are iffy. A tropical storm off the coast of Africa is tracking west and could reach Florida in about 10 days, then head north and possibly bring significant rainfall.

But the hot, sticky weather appears to be over for now.

“The heat and humidity are gone,” he said. “We’ll have continued dry weather, with temperate conditions. It’s going to be a gorgeous week.”

The state's Interagency Drought Working Group placed the state under a "drought advisory" at the end of June and will meet at the end of this month or in early September to determine whether a higher level of drought warning and other actions are warranted, said Chris McClure, the spokesman for the working group, which includes representatives of the state Office of Policy and Management and the departments of public health and energy and environmental protection. The determination is based on seven criteria.

A public water company in another part of the state has issued mandatory water conservation measures for its customers, and several are asking customers to curtail water use voluntarily. Residents and businesses with private wells are advised to cut back on water use by 10 percent.

"Things to avoid are watering lawns and washing cars," McClure said.

Statewide, he said, current rainfall levels are about 8 inches below average for 2016 thus far.

But, he added, "if you look back 24 months, we are in as much as a 20-inch deficit around the state."

j.benson@theday.com