ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Extreme drought in western North Carolina and the South Carolina Upstate saw a big increase this week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday.
Just last week, 59% of the area was under extreme drought. This week, it jumped to 86% of our area.
The state of North Carolina saw a 16% increase in area under extreme drought. Extreme drought covers 38% of the state, and 96% of the state is in severe drought status.
South Carolina also saw an increase at 7% for areas under extreme drought. Extreme drought covers 40% of the state, and 99% of the state is in severe drought.
BACKBURNING UNDERWAY AS CREWS FIGHT WILDFIRE NEAR MITCHELL-AVERY COUNTY LINE
There is another layer of more serious drought. None of our area is in ‘Exceptional Drought’ yet. Exceptional drought is occurring now in central and southern Georgia down into Florida where very intense wildfires continued to burn Thursday.
Thankfully, our pattern does favor more chances for rain over the next week.
We will likely see widespread light rain Saturday afternoon into Saturday night. We will see another round of light rain Monday night into Tuesday.
A longer-term pattern of rain events like these will eventually reverse our drought. Burn bans remain in effect for both North and South Carolina indefinitely.