Drought Update: Severe drought expands over southern counties
Jones, Onlsow, Pender and Southern Duplin counties all saw the severe drought return after a brief stay in moderate drought conditions
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - The updated drought monitor has increased the expanse of the severe drought across the East. While rain has fallen the past few days, many areas are still several inches short. At Pitt-Greenville Airport, we saw a grand total of 0.03″ of rain this past week (from the 23rd to the 29th), a full inch below average. Since the start of the year, we’ve seen 16.19″, which is 7.3″ short of the seasonal norm. This marks the third driest start to a calendar year on record.
The good news is a pattern of consistently wet weather will develop over the next week. A weak surface low near Cape Fear will swing moisture in off the Atlantic. The rain will increase from Friday through Sunday with spotty showers and occasional thunderstorms occurring throughout the day. Rainfall totals each day will likely range between a quarter to a half inch. After Thursday, each day will feature at least a 30% chance of rain over the next seven days.
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