PORTLAND – The drought that led to dry taps in hundreds of homes across Maine has been slow to relinquish its grip in parts of Maine, and dry weather in June and July hasn’t helped matters.

With ground conditions getting drier by the day, the Maine Forest Service issued a warning Monday about high fire danger levels in many areas of the state and urged the public to check with fire officials before building any open fires.

A forecast for more dry weather ahead also likely means scientists gathering today in Augusta will not declare the drought over.

“I don’t think we’re out of this yet, especially when we’re going into the dry period,” said Tom Hawley, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service.

August is usually the driest month of the year for the coast, and it was preceded by dry weather in July in most areas, said Gregory Zielinski, state climatologist and professor at the University of Maine.

“For now, there are still parts of the state considered to be in moderate drought,” Zielinski said Monday.

Earlier this year, more than 1,500 families reported that their wells went dry after the driest year on record in Maine. It was bad enough for the governor to seek a federal disaster declaration.

Each month, several people contact the state to report dry wells, but it’s hard to say how many people are without tap water at any given moment, said Lynette Miller of the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

While the drought lingers in Maine, both Vermont and New Hampshire have both declared the drought to be over.

But in New Hampshire, where July rainfall was below normal, state climatologist Barry Keim warned that the drought could be “creeping back” in all regions except in the northernmost county.

In Vermont, sections of the southernmost counties, Windham and Bennington, are classified as abnormally dry, but they are not in a drought, said Jason Aldous of the Vermont Department of Agriculture.

In Maine, there is plenty of water in lakes and ponds, and the Atlantic Salmon Commission reports no concerns for the sea-run fish. Groundwater levels are normal in most counties. In general, farmers are better off than last summer.

Despite all that, and a wetter-than-normal period from March to June, things have begun to dry out as they usually do in July and August.

The conditions helped fuel 22 fires in Maine in just the past week, according to the Maine Forest Service. The largest fire was reported near Tunk Mountain in Washington County where about 5 acres of forest was burned. Rangers reported that all but three of the fires were caused by people and were preventable.

There continue to be low groundwater levels in portions of Cumberland and York counties, and several parts of the state meet the National Weather Service criteria for a drought, Hawley said.

To be in a drought, a region must have 85 percent or less of its normal rainfall for a year, Hawley said.

Through July, Sanford was at 71 percent of its normal rainfall for the preceding year, Hawley said. Augusta was 77 percent, East Hiram 73 percent, Lewiston 81 percent and Rockport 76 percent.

The state needs either several months of heavy rain or a tropical storm to lift it out of the drought for good, Zielinski said.