The Severe Drought is gone, but a small sliver of Moderate Drought remains in the southern Coastal Plain. June’s rains targeted many of these drought-affected areas, and as a result, we’re entering July with a better-looking but still-busy drought map. One month ago, Moderate Drought (D1 on the US Drought Monitor’s classification scheme) covered most of eastern North Carolina, with Severe Drought (D2) at the southern coastline. And with 2.55 inches, Marion had only about half of its normal June rainfall. Morganton had 1.61 inches and its 16th-driest June since 1880. Hickory recorded only 1.73 inches of rain all month and its 9th-driest June on record since 1949. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the western Piedmont missed out on most of the rainfall, including from Claudette, and had a very dry June. New Bern also had its 2nd-wettest June with a monthly total of 10.72 inches of rain. Wilmington followed its 2nd-driest spring with its 2nd-wettest June dating back to 1874, measuring 12.26 inches during the month. It was also the wettest June in Washington (16.13 inches) and Ocracoke (12.36 inches). Greenville recorded 15.05 inches for its wettest June in 89 years with observations, and it followed the 9th-driest spring there. Those multiple heavy rain events made it one of the wettest Junes in eastern North Carolina, which was a sudden change after one of their driest springs. After making landfall on the Gulf coast, it remained remarkably well-organized and maintained tropical storm strength over eastern North Carolina on June 20-21.Īlong with producing an EF0 tornado in Chowan County and wind gusts up to 53 mph at the southern coastline, Claudette brought more than 2 inches of rain to parts of the southern Piedmont and Coastal Plain. The first two weeks of the month were marked by heavy rains across the eastern half of the state from a stalled frontal boundary on June 2-3 and long-lived showers and thunderstorms on June 9-11.Ī drier week followed those deluges, but then along came Claudette. However, that number obscures the extremes in precipitation from east to west. June was not one of those months, especially in terms of our precipitation.Īccording to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the preliminary statewide average precipitation last month was 6.04 inches, which ranks as the 20th-wettest June out of the past 127 years. In some months, a statewide average acts as a good representation for conditions all across North Carolina. Plus, how do our temperatures compare to the recent records out west? From Really Dry to Record Wet While the rain reigned in eastern North Carolina last month, the western Piedmont stayed dry and has seen a degradation on the state drought map.
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