It sure doesn't seem like a drought.

Assuming it rains at some point today — which it's supposed to do — Lancaster County will have been dampened or soaked by rain on 10 of April's 21 days so far.

On five of those days, more than a half-inch of rain fell. Four inches of rain has fallen on the county this month.

But we're still in a drought, according to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission.

Plainly told, nearly 7.5 inches of precipitation soaked the county from Jan. 1 through Monday, and the normal amount of rain and melted snow for that period is 11.16 inches.

"There have been good surpluses for April, but it hasn't erased the deficits for the year," said Susan Obleski, the commission's director of communications.

According to U.S. Geological Survey data provided Monday, Lancaster County is under a drought watch for the amount of water in streams and rivers and for the amount of precipitation that has fallen so far this year.

The county is under a drought warning for the level of its groundwater.

The river basin commission ranks drought conditions in order of increasing severity from a "watch" to a "warning" to an "emergency."

Getting lots of rain now is a good thing, Obleski said, because much of it ends up in the groundwater.

"We are in a heavy recharge period, and the rain we've seen has certainly helped," she said.

What worries water managers about heading into late spring with lower-than-normal groundwater, rainfall and stream levels is that temperatures are warming and foliage is blooming.

Growing plants soak up some of the rain and warm weather evaporates even more, taking away water that is now reaching groundwater tables.

"Once the trees and shrubs leaf out and the temperatures rise, the amount of recharge can drop," Obleski said.

And if storms bearing rain become less frequent in late spring and early summer, water supplies can become stressed.

Compared to other counties in the state, Lancaster is not too bad off, Obleski said.

Fourteen counties, including neighboring Berks County, are in a state of drought emergency.

"A lot of counties have improved this month, and Lancaster's one of them," Obleski said. "We'll keep watching to see where we go from here."

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com