This past July was one of the hottest on record, the third-hottest in fact since 1895. Typically, hot goes along with dry, but in contrast to the rest of the country most of North Carolina is enjoying drought-free conditions. Ryan Boyles from the State Climate Office says much of the Piedmont has benefited from frequent afternoon thundershowers.
Ryan Boyles: Across Central NC and most of the state, we've seen some pretty heavy thunderstorms rolling through which is not too unusual. When you have high temps, you can also have a lot of instability. Once those storms develop, they explode very quickly and become intense very quickly and can produce an inch or more significant rain in a short period of time.
Boyles says the lone exception is Brunswick County in the extreme southern part of the state. It's the only county classified on the National Drought Map this week as being moderately dry. Twenty-four counties are considered abnormally dry. Those areas are mainly south of the Triangle and in the southwest toward Charlotte.