Don't let the weather forecast fool you. Our region is in the midst of an "abnormally dry" period.

Those were the words used by Paul Walker, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather, to describe the weather after a drought watch was issued last week for 27 counties in Pennsylvania, including Carbon, Monroe and Schuylkill.How can that be? Monday we woke up to a dusting of snow.A storm system brought some rain to the area Thursday evening, with rainfall ranging between 0.16 inches to 0.69 inches."It looks like we're going to be in a chilly cycle the next couple of days, then going to more of a west to east slow across the country, which will bring more seasonable-like temperatures, but more storms," Walker said.Walker added there could be another system this weekend.In fact, we've had lots of periods of snow this year. They just didn't add up to much precipitation.Colleen Connolly, Community Relations Coordinator, Department of Environmental Protection, Northeast Regional Office, Wilkes-Barre, said the National Weather Service is indicating that rainfall levels are about 5 to 5-1/2 inches below normal right now.From the start of this year through March 26, Mount Pocono has received 5.03 inches of precipitation, or 61 percent of the normal 8.30 inches of precipitation.Also during that same time frame, the average temperature in Mount Pocono has been 20.2 degrees, 6.8 degrees below normal; in Allentown, 25.8, 6.1 degrees below normal.In the past year, the average temperature in Mount Pocono has been 39.58 degrees, compared with the average norm of 49.84.Also during that same time, Mount Pocono has received 39.58 inches of precipitation, compared with the 49.84 inches it normally gets; Allentown, 43.56 inches, compared with 45.47."In the short term, these places have been drier than normal," Walker said. "If this trend continues, it could develop into problems."The dry weather hasn't really affected crops for farmer Clark Shoenberger of Cherry Hill Road in Palmerton."It really hasn't affected crops so far; the frost isn't completely out of the ground right now," Shoenberger said. "The only thing we have planted right now is wheat."Shoenberger said the fact that the area has been placed under a drought emergency is "highly unusual for earlyspring.""Things can turn around; there's always the possibility that the weather patterns can turn around," he said. "It's not a good start; the moisture should be at the high point when you start at spring."Dwane Miller, an extension educator for the Penn State Extension Schuylkill County Office, said rain is needed, even though the fields are wet."From a field crop situation, we're in a period right now where folks are looking to get into the fields, and right now they technically can't; it's a little too wet," Miller said."It's very tough to get on those fields right now because of the recent snow melt, the cycle of freezing and thawing."While things are behind where they typically are this time of year due to the snow and cold temperatures, Miller said there is still time for us to catch up."However, if we turn on the heat pretty fast and we don't get the precipitation to go along with it, we could be in for a dry start to the growing season here in the eastern part of Pennsylvania," Miller said."We tend to have a lot of shale-based soils in our region, so we can get on the ground quicker, but with that comes the need for some pretty consistent moisture for us."