CCN Weather Update for Friday May 1, 2026
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Here’s today’s Bottom Line
Greetings to the month of May!
The latest drought monitor has hit the street and the news isn’t good across Columbus County and North Carolina.
You can see that portions of Columbus and Brunswick county are under “extreme” drought. We’re WAY below normal value for rainfall in all metrics.
BUT… a big dent occurs in this Friday night through Saturday with the best chance for significant rain since October.
A few areas of low pressure lifting northeast along a stalled front boundary with plenty of upper-atmospheric support diving across the Carolinas. This will result in widespread, cold soaking rain throughout Friday night and Saturday.
Rain should break out from southwest to northeast during the early evening hours. Rain becomes steadier and heavier through the night into Saturday, becoming more “showery” in nature by the afternoon hours.
Although we’re seeing significant drought conditions, if the rains come hard enough or higher-end rainfall amounts occur (2″+), this could lead to some areas of flooding in the typical areas of Whiteville and Chadbourn.
Near-zero chance for thunder as we’ll be on the COLD side of this system.
Yes… cold. Highs around 60. Maybe. If we’re lucky.
Rainfall amounts should be between 1.25 and 1.5 inches across the area, but I can’t rule out isolated 2-inch amounts.
BUST POTENTIAL: There IS a bust potential with this, but not anything like the bust we experienced the other day. Nearly unlimited Gulf moisture will be streaming to the north, enhanced by the stalled frontal boundary to our south, and even more enhanced by the waves of low pressure on that front. Even if the upper-level support doesn’t materialize, we’ll still experience a decent rainfall across the area. Rain chances are pegged at 90% Friday night and 100% on Saturday.
After this system leaves the area Saturday night, we’ll be high-and-dry well into the middle of next week with warming temperatures.
Here is your Freedom Insurance Today-plus-Five Forecast:
–Meteorologist Christopher Cawley
