People walk through patches of dry, brown grass on Aug. 14 in Augusta’s Capitol Park. Drought conditions have worsened in parts of Maine, pushing coastal areas of Down East and the Midcoast into a severe drought, while much of the rest of the state is still facing moderate drought or abnormally dry conditions. (Joe Phelan/Staff Photographer)

Drought conditions have worsened in parts of Maine, pushing areas of Down East and the Midcoast into severe drought conditions, while much of the rest of the state still faces moderate drought or abnormally dry conditions, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

National Weather Service forecasters have said drought conditions are expected to spread and worsen in part because of weeks of dry weather and periods of extreme heat. More than 1 million Mainers are in drought-stricken areas, according to the drought monitor.

This year’s conditions came earlier than they did last fall, noted Hunter Tubbs, a meteorologist at the weather service office in Gray, and the longer days of summer can have an impact.

The weather service is forecasting rain for Monday and Tuesday, but likely a half-inch or less. That wouldn’t be enough to put a large dent in drought conditions, Tubbs said.

“That could bring some very temporary relief to the surface vegetation, but the groundwater reservoirs and rivers are likely to remain very low still,” he said.

The coastal area now in severe drought encompasses about 7% of Maine, stretching west from Washington County to the eastern half of Lincoln County and encompassing Acadia National Park and the Bar Harbor area.

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In a severe drought, air and water quality are typically poor, groundwater levels drop and irrigation ponds run dry. Some crops are affected in both yield and size, warnings are issued regarding outdoor burning, golf courses begin to conserve water, and trees become brittle, according to the drought monitor.

Another 34% of the state — including all of southern, central and western Maine, as well as a strip of inland Maine that runs all the way to the eastern border with Canada — is still in moderate drought conditions, which were declared last week.

In a moderate drought, wildfires and ground fires increase, honey production declines, hay and grain yields are lower than normal, and trees, landscaping and fish are stressed, according to the drought monitor. People may be asked to voluntarily conserve water because reservoir and lake levels are below normal capacity.

To the north of the moderate drought zone, another strip of land that includes parts of the Kennebec Valley, highlands and eastern interior is considered abnormally dry — one step below an official drought.

Only the far northern regions of Maine, most of Aroostook County and the northern tips of Penobscot, Piscataquis and Somerset counties, have normal conditions.