SARANAC LAKE — Following an extended duration of dry weather that has brought varying stages of drought conditions across the Northeast, there is some relief expected this week.

It’s not anticipated to be anywhere near enough rain to erase — or even put a significant dent in — the drought’s regional impacts, according to the National Weather Service’s Burlington, Vermont office, which serves the Tri-Lakes region. At this point, however, anything is better than nothing, noted NWS Burlington Meteorologist Adrianna Kremer.

She said that from today until the end of the week, between 0.5 and 1 inch of rain is expected locally.

“It’s definitely been such a dry stretch that even though it’s not quite a lot (of rain), it is still pretty significant,” she said.

It probably won’t come all at once. Kremer said the forecast shows a series of rainstorms passing through the area. None of these are expected to produce any substantial rainfall individually, but collectively, it adds up.

After today’s scattered and generally light showers, a lull is expected on Wednesday with overcast conditions, but not much in the way of precipitation. The heaviest rain of the week is expected on Thursday as a stronger area of low pressure tracks northeast out of the Ohio Valley before gradually moving out of the Northeast.

To fully erase the drought’s impacts, Kremer said the region needs to see between 5 and 7 inches of precipitation over the span of a month, building up to between 10 and 12 inches over three months. These figures are calculated, in part, based on streamflow and lake levels, which can give hydrologists a way to estimate how depleted groundwater levels are.

Next week’s weather isn’t inspiring much hope amongst meteorologists either. Kremer said that while it’s still somewhat far out to forecast, computer models appear to be in strong agreement for strong high pressure to set up shop over the Northeast yet again next week, heralding another period of dry weather.