DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH NC
930 AM EDT THU JUNE 26 2008
...DROUGHT CONDITIONS ACROSS CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA HAVE SLOWLY
WORSENED THIS MONTH...
SYNOPSIS...BENEFICIAL RAINFALL THIS SPRING HAS BECOME MORE SPARSE
AND SCATTERED IN NATURE AS WE HEAD INTO EARLY SUMMER. IN
ADDITION...TEMPERATURES ARE RUNNING WELL ABOVE NORMAL. THIS HAS
ALLOWED DROUGHT CONDITIONS TO GRADUALLY WORSEN OVER THE PAST
MONTH.
SUMMARY OF IMPACTS...ABOVE NORMAL RAINFALL IN MARCH AND APRIL
REPLENISHED WATER SUPPLY RESERVOIRS ACROSS CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA
AND ALLOWED FOR GOOD TO EXCELLENT PLANTING CONDITIONS AS WELL AS
IMPROVED PASTURE CONDITION. SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL EVENTS HAVE BEEN
SPARSE AND DISTRIBUTION HAS NOT BEEN WIDESPREAD THROUGH MAY AND JUNE
HOWEVER...AND DROUGHT CONDITIONS HAVE BEEN GRADUALLY WORSENING. THIS
WORSENING HAS BEEN ESPECIALLY NOTICEABLE IN THE YADKIN RIVER
BASIN...WHICH IS CURRENTLY IN EXCEPTIONAL (D3) DROUGHT...AND ACROSS
THE NORTHERN PIEDMONT OF CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA...WHERE SEVERE (D2)
CONDITIONS PREVAIL.
VOLUNTARY WATER RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT OVER MOST OF CENTRAL
NORTH CAROLINA AT THIS TIME.
CLIMATE SUMMARY...TEMPERATURES HAVE BEEN WELL ABOVE NORMAL THUS FAR
DURING THE LATE SPRING AND EARLY SUMMER. RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES
WERE SET ON 5 CONSECUTIVE DAYS AT THE RALEIGH DURHAM INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT BETWEEN JUNE 6TH AND JUNE 10TH...WITH 4 OF THE 5 DAYS
REACHING HIGHS OF EITHER 100 OR 101 DEGREES. IN ADDITION...RAINFALL
HAS BEEN BELOW NORMAL...ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE NORTHERN PIEDMONT AND
THE YADKIN RIVER BASIN.
2008 - THUS FAR
DAYS DAYS RAINFALL
>90 >100 PAST 30 DAYS
`07/`08 `07/`08 AMOUNT/%NORMAL
RALEIGH-DURHAM 16/18 0/4 2.95 / 87%
ITN`L APT (RDU)
PIEDMONT TRIAD 8/11 0/0 1.23 / 35%
INTN`L APT (GSO)
FAYETTEVILLE 16/18 0/2 3.80 / 94%
AIRPORT (FAY)
PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK...LA NINA CONDITIONS IN THE
EQUATORIAL PACIFIC CONTINUE TO BECOME MORE NEUTRAL. HOWEVER...LA
NINA DOES NOT SHOW A CORRELATION TO RAINFALL OR TEMPERATURE
ANOMALIES OVER CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS.
THERE ARE NO OTHER CLIMATOLOGICAL SIGNALS WHICH MIGHT INDICATE
TEMPERATURE OR PRECIPITATION ANOMALIES. AS SUCH...THE OUTLOOK CALLS
FOR EQUAL CHANCES OF ABOVE OR BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND
PRECIPITATION FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.
HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...WATER SUPPLY RESERVOIRS ARE NEAR
100 PERCENT AT THIS TIME. THIS IS DUE TO CONSERVATION EFFORTS OVER
THE WINTER AND SPRING WHICH INCLUDED CAREFULLY MONITORED WATER
RELEASES. INFLOWS INTO THESE RESERVOIRS THUS FAR IN JUNE...
HOWEVER...HAVE BEEN WELL BELOW NORMAL...AND HAVE AT TIMES BEEN
NEGATIVE...DUE TO THE SMALL AREAL DISTRIBUTION OF SIGNIFICANT
RAINFALL EVENTS.
UNREGULATED STREAMS AND RIVERS ARE FLOWING BELOW THE 10TH PERCENTILE
OF NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. IN PARTICULAR...THE FLOW IN THE
YADKIN RIVER IS BELOW THE 5TH PERCENTILE...WHILE UPPER HEADWATERS OF
THE CAPE FEAR...NEUSE...AND TAR RIVERS ARE ALL IN SINGLE DIGIT
PERCENTILES AS WELL.
THERE ARE FEW GROUNDWATER MONITORING WELLS IN CENTRAL NORTH
CAROLINA...BUT THREE REPRESENTATIVE WELLS IN CHAPEL HILL...PITT
COUNTY NEAR GREENVILLE...AND IN CLEVELAND COUNTY NEAR SALISBURY HAVE
WATER LEVELS BELOW THE 10TH PERCENTILE. ANOTHER WELL IN SCOTLAND
COUNTY WEST OF RAEFORD IS IN THE NORMAL RANGE.
THE NEXT SCHEDULED DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED
AROUND JULY 10TH.
&&
RELATED WEB SITES...
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON CURRENT DROUGHT CONDITIONS MAY BE FOUND AT
THE FOLLOWING WEB ADDRESSES - USE LOWER CASE LETTERS.
NATIONAL INTEGRATED DROUGHT INFORMATION SYSTEM (NIDIS)...
HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.GOV
NOAA DROUGHT PAGE...HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.NOAA.GOV
U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR...HTTP://WWW.DROUGHT.UNL.EDU/DM/MONITOR.HTML
NORTH CAROLINA DROUGHT MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL...
HTTP://WWW.NCDROUGHT.ORG
STATE CLIMATE OFFICE OF NORTH CAROLINA...
HTTP://WWW.NC-CLIMATE.NCSU.EDU
CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER (CPC)...HTTP://WWW.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV
ADDITIONAL RIVER INFORMATION...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE...HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/AHPS
SOUTHEAST RIVER FORECAST CENTER...HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/ALR
U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY...HTTP://WATER.USGS.GOV
U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS...HTTP://WWW.SAW.USACE.ARMY.MIL
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...
THE DROUGHT MONITOR IS A MULTI-AGENCY EFFORT INVOLVING THE NATIONAL
WEATHER SERVICE AND NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER...THE USDA...STATE
AND REGIONAL CLIMATOLOGISTS AND THE NATIONAL DROUGHT MITIGATION
CENTER. INFORMATION FOR THIS STATEMENT HAS BEEN GATHERED FROM NWS
AND FAA OBSERVATION SITES...STATE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
SERVICES...THE USDA...USACE AND USGS.
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS ABOUT THIS DROUGHT INFORMATION
STATEMENT...PLEASE CONTACT...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
1005 CAPABILITY DRIVE - SUITE 300
RALEIGH NC 27606
PHONE: 919-515-8209
E-MAIL: RAH.WEBMASTER@NOAA.GOV
$$
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