Drought conditions in North Carolina improve, but not by much

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — There have been some improvements to the drought in North Carolina, but not as much as we would like.

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Most of the measurable rain that helped part of the drought last week fell along the I-95 corridor, which is where we’ve seen the most improvement.

According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday, 6.6% of North Carolina is still in a D4 exceptional drought, the most severe condition, down only 0.4% from last week. 35.4% of the state is in a D3 extreme drought, a decrease from last week of 2.8%.

The extreme drought increased to 42.3% in Cumberland County, up 23.7% from last week.

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Nash County is no longer in an exceptional drought, with 48% now in an extreme drought.

The following counties are still in an exceptional drought:

• Wake County: 24.14% in exceptional drought (down 5.57% from last week)
• Durham County: 95.78% in exceptional drought (no change from last week)
• Orange County: 97.3% in exceptional drought (no change from last week)
• Person County: 78.6% in exceptional drought (no change from last week)
• Granville County: 60.79% in exceptional drought (no change from last week)
• Franklin County: 12.45% in exceptional drought (down 25.62% from last week)

We also ended up back on top for the driest start to the year through the end of June, second to 1981.

We would still need 13 to 15 inches of rain to end the drought in a one-month span.

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