Here’s what led to our drought

CHARLOTTE — Mandatory water restrictions start for Mecklenburg County this Friday as the Carolinas continue to deal with extreme-to-exceptional drought conditions. And while these mandatory water restrictions are just starting, the drought has been building for quite some time.

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There are a few environmental factors that have led to the drought we’re experiencing, starting with a look back at last year’s hurricane season. It was a relatively quiet season for our part of the Carolinas. The only storm that provided a glancing blow was Tropical Storm Chantal, which brought heavy rain and storms to the central part of the state. However, most of that rain stayed east of Charlotte with little tropical influence through the rest of the season.

That sparked the start of our drought with abnormally dry conditions and eventually moderate drought developing by October 2025.

On top of that, we then went into a record-dry winter. Yes, even with historic snowfall, the total moisture didn’t translate to much rain. In fact, it was our ninth driest winter on record, which set us up in a bad place for this spring.

And finally, a hitting blow to us this spring has been our lack of thunderstorms. We have had an extremely quiet spring season with most storm activity staying to our west in the Plains, Mississippi River Valley, and into the Midwest. This is due to a persistent ridge of high pressure that has blocked a lot of that moisture from moving into the Southeast.

When you combine all of these factors, it leads to the extreme rainfall deficit we are experiencing today and the drought conditions currently in place.

So how do we get out of this drought? We would need to pick up an inch to two inches of rain a week to make some strides. A tropical system over the summer would also help to make up lost ground, though, as we enter an El Niño summer, those prospects are lower than normal.