Dry conditions in the Northeast are worsening, creating a scenario for fire danger in the region to persist, an updated map from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows.

The worst of the drought conditions are located in a large swath of West Virginia, several counties in South New Jersey and three counties in southwest Pennsylvania — all of which are in extreme drought, according to the Drought Monitor.

Most of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and West Virginia are in severe drought, the map shows.

The drought situation the Northeast is currently facing was strongly propelled by the lack of precipitation in October, Samantha Borisoff, a climatologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University, told ABC News.

Major cities like Philadelphia, Newark and Washington, D.C., are among the regions experiencing long periods without measurable precipitation, Borisoff said.

Keep reading at abcnews.go.com.

Technion Professor Eran Friedler, head of the Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research Institute, is quoted in this article.