The North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council released an updated drought map Thursday that shows there have been slight improvements — Mecklenburg County has moved back into moderate drought along with 24 other counties.
But much of southwest North Carolina is still in severe drought, including Gaston County. Eight counties are at the extreme drought level. Bigger improvements were noted in the eastern part of the state which received between two to four inches of rain in some parts.
Last week, Charlotte got about 2.3 inches of rain. That brought some relief but it wasn’t enough to end the ongoing drought. According to forecasters, the area will need another 5 inches of rain before Christmas to ease the drought conditions. The rain did help western parts of the state with wildfires, as the burn ban was canceled on Wednesday after rain reached the area.
Deep soil, groundwater storage and reservoir levels are still low.
Based on current projections, western North Carolina will end the fall between five to 10 inches below its normal rainfall total.
