Let the Rain Fall Down
New York is in a drought and I'm dragging myself into the end of year.
It finally rained in NYC again. And I never thought that I would be this happy about a little bit of precipitation.
I have always lived in this city and have trudged to school or onto public transportation on the rain, oftentimes feeling miserable. I struggle with rainy days, especially towards the end of the year when the days are shorter. But I’ll make an exception this week.
Before this week, the city experienced weeks without precipitation. And though it’s a welcome sight, this is not enough to replenish the state’s depleted reservoirs. As of November 19, 2024, New York City was experiencing severe drought conditions, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. This is the first year that city officials have declared a drought warning in about two decades.
Combine the especially dry conditions with how unseasonably hot it was in October and much of this November and you get forest fires. Which residents of NYC did experience. There were several days when I walked outside and felt like I was breathing in barbecue smoke. The skyline was hazy for several days as fires burned in Brooklyn and in New Jersey. I’ve lived in this city my entire life. Apart from the intense smoke from Canadian fires last year, I don’t remember any other time in my life where fire smoke affected my ability to breathe outside. I remember sending a friend who lives in the Caribbean photos of the yellow-orange sky. He had wanted to know if I had ever seen anything like that before in the city.
“Hell no,” I texted back.
Friends and family have texted me and have asked if the fires, the lack of rain, and warmer weather this fall is somehow connected to climate change—which is a great question. Especially when we consider that some parts of the world are just prone to wildfires. Dry seasons naturally exist and sometimes it simply doesn’t rain for weeks.
But the climate crisis takes things that we see in nature and changes them—in many cases it makes them extreme and harder to predict. It puts drought in regions that doesn’t usually experience these conditions, which means there’s less protection for our social systems and our infrastructure. The same is also true for places that are accustomed to these conditions. The dry seasons will last longer, and backup systems will be strained to handle problems like less water for longer periods of time.
It’s likely that the rain we saw this week won’t be enough to alleviate how dry the region has been. I want to feel hopeful that our systems will handle preparing for the conditions to come. When friends ask me if they think our city or our state is prepared for other conditions that we’ll likely experience in the near future. I often have the same answer every time.
“I don’t know, but I hope so.”
I do like to remind them that there is still time to get it right.
Bylines
The Department of Veterans Affairs is the largest provider of HIV related care in the U.S. I spoke to providers in the system to hear advice about receiving the best care possible through the VA for The Body.
I wrote a week in my life aka Field Notes for The Uproot Project. You’ll get a sneak peek into my life as a freelancer during NYC Climate Week.
I wrote a hurricane preparedness guide for
’s Hothouse newsletter. It was an honor considering that I’m a fan. (Ya’ll should subscribe).Find me on Bluesky. That other app has gone to the birds. I’m on Threads too.
Work T.K.?
I followed a deer hunting group. This article will be about BIPOC access to outdoor activities.
Maybe a climate and comedy mini-series? We’ll see.
Weekly R.E.P.OR.T
Reading: (actually re-reading) Crane Wife. I read this once a year as a religious experience.
Eating: Matcha chia seed pudding that I made myself.
Playing: My life choices over and over again in my head like a movie.
Obsessing: Over tariffs.
Recommending: That you floss your teeth every night.
Treating: Myself to some sweet treats from BonBon.
Bonus- listening to this gem while I write and apply to jobs.