Carolinas see much-needed rain, but drought persists

CHARLOTTE — Today marks the 7^th day in a row of rain across the Carolinas. And as we all know, we have been in desperate need for soaking rain given the worsening drought conditions we’re experiencing.

So now the question is, was this enough to alleviate the drought? In short, and unfortunately, it’s not.

Rainfall totals have been quite impressive over the past week. Some locations, such as in the mountains as well as south in Chester, Lancaster, and Chesterfield counties, have picked up over 6″ of rain! In the Charlotte metro area, totals have varied from nearly 1.5″ to over 3″.

ALSO READ: Drought conditions improve slightly in Charlotte, but challenges remain

This rainfall marks our rainiest stretch since early August and marks our first month with above-average rainfall since August of last year too.

And while this multi-day stretch of rain has been great for gardens, area lakes, and lawns, there is unfortunately still a need for even more rain to alleviate the drought.

The drought that we are experiencing has been developing for 9 months. Just for this year we are still looking at a rainfall deficit of over 6″ of rain.

So, while recent rains have been helpful, we still have a long way to go to get out of it.

We will get an official update of the drought monitor on Thursday morning, which will likely show improvements out of some of the highest categories of drought.

However, some level of drought conditions will persist for our entire area until we can consistently see above-average rainfall over a longer period of time.