The extreme heat made a strong impression in June, with low rainfall throughout the month. That combination has brought The drought began quickly. in North Carolina.
The vibrant summer appears
The boost from the late-month heat wave helped keep our June temperatures above normal. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) reports preliminary statewide average temperatures of 75.4°F. That ranks as ours June 22nd Warmest in the past 130 years and the warmest since 2018.
For much of eastern North Carolina, this was one of the five warmest Junes on record, including the third warmest June in Rock mountainranked 3rd warmest in Raleighranked 4th warmest in Hatterasand the 5th warmest Gewgew.
First month, high pressure offshore helps keep temperatures a few degrees above normal, but not to the extremes that come later when Mother Nature continues to blanket our already sun-drenched land.
Via June 22Our temperatures rose to the mid to late 90s as high surface pressure move high and one high pressure system begins to form in the southeastern United States. As that pattern strengthens, our temperatures continue to rise over the next week.
ABOVE June 23Raleigh reaches 100°F to hit a daily record high. It was the first time the temperature here topped 100 degrees this year, but just the first of four warm days in June: the highest temperature in a month here since July 2012.
ABOVE June 26One warm front A southeasterly wind blew in, sending temperatures soaring even higher, reaching triple digits in some areas of the Sandhills and eastern Piedmont.
Lillington reached 100°F, marking the earliest occurrence of such hot temperatures since June 17, 2015. Our ECONet stations at Hamlet Village and at Clayton DAQ Profile each reached 101°F. And both Raleigh And Smithfield School The temperature hit 103°F, the first such warm day since 2012 at the RDU Airport terminal.
Via June 29a wide dome high pressure on upper floors blanketed the Carolinas, creating another brutally hot afternoon that included a high of 91°F at our normally ocean-moderated station on Bald IslandIt was the warmest day since August 21 last year.
Last month, we didn’t just feel hot in the afternoon. The nights were also warm and humid. On June 23, Fayetteville, GreensboroAnd Raleigh all bound or broken their daily record high minimum temperature, while on June 26, Raleigh broke both. Record daily high and low temperatures.
During the month, it is difficult to escape the heat. Gewgew26 out of 30 days had temperatures of 90°F or higher: the second-highest 90-degree day on record in June. GreenvilleLast month, there were 21 days with temperatures above 90 degrees, the fourth-highest in June and the highest since a record 23 days in 2010.
Dry days prevail
Amid our hot weather, rain was scarcer than we’ve seen all month in North Carolina. The NCEI recorded a preliminary statewide rainfall average of 1.35 inchesmake this ours driest June on record Dated from 1895.
Some local locations also set new records for lack of rain. This was the driest June on record. Plymouth (0.24”), Tarboro (0.58”), Clinton (0.71”), and New Bern (0.89”) based on data going back at least 50 years at all stations.
Some parts of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain saw less than an inch of rain for the entire month, including just 0.92 inch Greensboro and 0.75 inch in Henderson June was the 4th driest on record at both locations and 0.90 inch in Gewgew in the second driest month of June.
Most places in the west have had a little better rainfall, but it’s still a dry month in the mountains. Franklin also recorded its driest June on record with a total rainfall of just 0.97 inches, while with 1.48 inches, Boone had its third driest June since 1980.
As a transfer from our wet mayThis June started with some significant rainfall in some areas. June 4A light shower in the Triangle dropped an impressive 1.85 inches at RDU Airport in just an hour. Further west, Lenoir There was 3.03 inches of rain on June 4 and 5.
ONE cold front is moving in from the northwest brings more modest rainfall totals of half an inch or less June 9But in most areas, it will be the last rain they see for nearly two weeks.
With high pressure, the atmospheric tap closes in mid-month, creating a long stretch of dry days. catkin, GreensboroAnd Laurel Creek There were 17 consecutive days with no measurable rainfall each from June 10 to June 26.
Fayetteville has gone 19 days without rain through June 29. That’s the longest dry spell since a 23-day streak in the fall of 2016, which at the time was a welcome relief from the rain and flooding from Hurricane Matthew. And in GreenvilleThis month ended with 23 consecutive days without rain: the longest streak of rain-free days since October and November 2000.
A series of weak cold fronts moving south in the last week of June brought some rain to end the month. June 24Showers along the coast with up to 2.74 inches of rain New portwhile June 30 witnessed over 2 inches fall in parts of eastern North Carolina, including river lift total of up to 8 inches in some areas of Sampson County.
The return of rain at the end of the month was a glimmer of hope for a dry June, but in most areas it was just a drop in the bucket compared to what we missed before, causing drought to spread rapidly across the state.
Droughts develop and deepen
Because our June was so dry, it’s easy to forget how wet we were last month. May brought heavy rains and totals of more than 10 inches in some parts of the Piedmont, leaving us with a mostly clear drought map and stable soil moisture levels heading into summer.
The combination of extremely high temperatures early in the season and persistent dryness throughout June quickly dissipated the excess moisture from May and by this weekAbnormally dry (D0) or drought conditions cover 99.98% of the state.
With two to three categories of deterioration on the US Drought Monitor over a four-week period, we were easily able to meet Flash drought criteriaand we got there in almost record breaking fashion.
From June 11 to 18, we had the state’s second-largest weekly expansion of Abnormally Dry (D0) status since the U.S. Drought Monitor officially launched in 2000. That brought plus 60.88% of the state into the lowest tier USDM category. The only larger weekly expansion of D0 was the 72.22% change in March 2007 at the start of drought lasting many years.
Next week, Map of June 25 saw 56.54% of the state enter moderate drought (D1). That was also the second largest weekly increase in D1 coverage, behind only the 57.10% change on October 30, 2001.
The latest map from July 2 shows 9% of the state is in severe drought (D2) and nearly 75% of the state is in moderate or severe drought. This is a dramatic decline in less than a month.
Along with being perhaps the fastest-appearing summer drought in recent memory, it happened early in the season. Other notable summer droughts began in July 2010, July 2015And August 2023 – all of which are the result of the consistently hot and dry weather that has lasted throughout the summer.
In just one month of such conditions, we have seen far-reaching impacts this June:
- EQUAL soil moisture Water evaporates, lawns turn yellow or brown, gardens become parched, and trees begin to drop leaves to conserve moisture.
- Farmers follow growing conditions decline at the most sensitive time of the growing season to rainfall. In particular, lack of rain during the silking stage of corn can productivity loss of 3 to 4% per daywhile Soybeans may stop flowering, meaning the seed coat may not be full. Crop progress and status reports from USDA/NASS showed these impacts in June. Only 3% of corn was rated in poor condition to start the month, compared with 68% in poor or very poor condition as of June 30.
- Flow at normal or higher levels Maybebut completed June below normal in most of northern and eastern North Carolina. The largest declines were in the northern Piedmont. For example, Hyco Creek near Leasburg saw discharges drop from 11.9 cubic feet per second on May 31 to just 0.14 cubic feet per second on June 30.
- water tower barely held their target levels and most did minimal downstream releases just to stay there. For JuneFalls Lake inflow is negative due to high evaporation rates, low upstream rainfall, reduced upstream water flow, and sharing of that limited water with the City of Durham’s rainfall-starved reservoirs.
- Some localities water systemespecially in eastern North Carolina where no large reservoirs availableimplement water use restrictions. Johnston And Pamlico The county utility requested voluntary conservation and West Carteret Water Corporation ask customer Restrict outdoor use to ensure water supply and water quality from the Castle Hayne Aquifer can last.
- In spite of forest fire activity While wildfires tend to subside after the greening process is complete in the spring, they can still occur in the summer, especially as living and dead vegetation dries out. Last month, the North Carolina Forest Service reported 490 wildfires burning 1,541 acres on state and private land — both double the normal June numbers. The largest fires of the month 545 acres burned in Carteret County.
The emergence of Severe Drought (D2) in parts of the state this week shows that the impacts of drought are intensifying. D2 is typically accompanied by deeper drought conditions, inevitable loss of some crops, and the adoption of conservation measures, as we have seen in some areas of the east.
Reaching D2 just two weeks after the initial expansion of Abnormally Dry conditions makes the current drought all the more impressive and gives us hope that July will be more like a wet May than a dry June.
