Most of North Carolina remains at some level of drought, as Columbus County moves into its third week with no significant widespread rain.
This morning’s weekly update of the state drought monitor shows that Columbus County is now considered to be experiencing Severe Drought conditions. Last summer, portions of the county were listed as being in an Extreme Drought. The drought monitor is updated every Thursday.
Nov. 5 marks the 18th consecutive day without rain in the area.
A line of thunderstorms could bring some rain to the area tomorrow, Meteorologist Christopher Cawley said, but dry and cooler conditions are expected for the coming week. Some areas saw brief sprinkles this morning.
The U.S. Drought Monitor places Columbus County in the second driest year in 132 years, with year-to-date rainfall 14.71 below normal, and 3.11 inches below normal just for September. The lack of any tropical systems has played a role in the drought, Drought.gov said, although tropical systems tend to skew data to the wet side.
Current El Nino patterns have prevented most tropical activity but have also prevented some rain systems from making it into North Carolina.
CCN has the only strictly local weather forecast for Columbus County, and it is updated daily at columbuscountynews.com.
