Thirsty locals were eyeing yesterday’s grey skies in hope of relief, with the island now “across the threshold into drought”, according to the Bermuda Weather Service.

“Things out there are just terrible,” farmer Roger Pacheco said, after harvesting parched potatoes and carrots from soils toughened by the lack of water.

Although this newspaper reported record rains in January, pickings have been slim over the past 90 or so days. Mr Pacheco recalled the last decent downfall was around three weeks ago.

Lettuces and corn are “suffering”, he said, while lawns are turning brown and tanks are running low.

Fair weather has dominated the spring, and the BWS forecaster told The Royal Gazette the present cloudy interval was likely to give way soon enough to “probably at least a week” of fine skies.

“May is the driest month, and April is the second-driest,” he said. “So, we have come into a dry time a bit drier than the norm.”

Up to yesterday, only 0.69 inches of rain had fallen in April.

“We’ve had little to speak of in 90 days,” the forecaster said.

“Right now our rainfall index is at 59 per cent — 100 per cent is considered normal and anything below 60 per cent is considered an extended dry spell.

“Hopefully this unsettled weather will at least give us something to wet the ground.”