CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The first drought update of Feb. saw little change across the Carolinas. While both North and South Carolina have small portions of the states under a moderate drought, most of the impact is abnormally dry.
From last week to this week, the moderate drought numbers didn’t budge. About 14% of North Carolina remains under this category and only 6.5% of South Carolina.
However, the abnormally dry conditions (or D0), which is a precursor to drought, did increase. In North Carolina, this rose about 7% from last week with 67% of the state under this category. In South Carolina, this rose about 8.5% with 44% of the state under this category.
So, what’s the trend? With rain and snow over the past month, the drought across our two states has gotten dramatically better. Additional rainfall this week could wipe out the moderate drought completely by next week.
But don’t let your guard down! We need to watch the trends further into this month, March, and eventually the beginning of the growing season. If we were to experience an abnormally dry end to winter, the drought could build back in.
Contact Brittany Van Voorhees at bvanvoorhe@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.