No drought or dry conditions in NC for first time in more than a year.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WLOS) — For the first time since March 2016, all 100 of North Carolina’s counties have been determined to be free from drought or dry conditions.
“The recent rainfall has brought relief to the state, particularly southwestern North Carolina,” Linwood Peele, acting chairman of the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council and the state’s Water Supply Planning Branch supervisor, said in a news release.
“Streams, groundwater levels and soil moisture have greatly improved, and counties are now experiencing near long-term averages.” The variables that determine drought are streamflow, groundwater levels, climate, the amount of water stores in reservoirs, soil moisture and the time of year.
In North Carolina, the council also considers impacts to the environment when it is recommending changing conditions to the state’s drought map.
These conditions are closely monitored and can rapidly change, especially during the hot summer months, which bring about higher evaporation rates.
To view North Carolina’s drought map, visit www.ncdrought.org.
To view the U.S. drought map, visit http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/.