The U.S. Drought Monitor currently classifies just over 66% of the state as being in a severe drought covering most of the Boston area, North shore, Central Massachusetts and Western Massachusetts. Other parts of the state are considered to be in a moderate drought, while the Cape and Islands are currently classified as abnormally dry.

The latest drought monitor shows a big expansion of severe drought across Massachusetts and far northern Rhode Island.

It has been a couple of decades since we have seen something like this,” Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.