Signs of Drought in the Carolinas

High temperatures and low rainfall during the month of June produced emerging drought conditions in the Carolinas. The South Carolina Drought Response Committee has declared 28 SC counties at the status of incipient drought. Media reports highlight that low levels of rainfall across the Palmetto state have adversely impacted agriculture. Farmers in Orangeburg, SC reported damage to corn crops, forcing some farmers to depend on peanuts and cotton to supplement their losses. Other farmers in Calhoun County face similar challenges with some fields expected to yield as little as 10 percent of normal crop production.

North Carolina is experiencing drought for the first time in two years according to the State Climate Office at N.C. State University. On June 25th the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council updated the status of Mecklenburg and Gaston counties to a moderate drought. NC Climatologist Rebecca Cumbie reports that several locations in the Western Piedmont are below normal rainfall by two inches or more for June. Cumbie also stated that many areas in North Carolina experienced record high mean temperatures during a two week period that ended on June 23rd, which was as much as seven degrees above normal in some areas.


Your condition monitoring reports will prove to be very valuable over the next few weeks and months as we either begin to see more rainfall in the Carolinas to make up for recent deficits or continue to experience dry conditions. Observations of changes you see in your area and impacts to your communities that you include in your condition monitoring reports help to provide on-the-ground information about the onset and intensification of drought and will also help to document recovery from dry conditions if you do get that much needed rain.


So, be sure to take careful note of what's going on around you and submit your condition monitoring reports through the CoCoRaHS website. Click here to view step-by-step instructions for submitting a condition monitoring report. Find additional resources on the condition monitoring project webpage.

Below are a few pictures of dry conditions shared by CoCoRaHS condition monitoring report Melinda Ball from her home in Aiken County, SC.





Dry conditions in Aiken County

Dry conditions in Aiken County