As of the latest update of the U.S Drought Monitor, 68% of the state is now under severe drought with some areas near Charlotte upgraded to an extreme drought. 98% of the state is under a moderate drought.
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How much rain would it take for us to get out of these drought conditions?
The National Centers for Environmental Information divides the state of North Carolina into 8 climate divisions. With the divisions included in our area, it would take anywhere from 6 to 8 inches of rain within a one month period to break our drought.
If you go into Moore County and areas west towards Charlotte, it goes up to close to 10 inches.
We can also look at the probability of the drought ending as well. For all but one division in the state, there is a less than 10% chance of us breaking out of the drought within the next month.
With our rain chance over the weekend, the latest guidance from the Weather Prediction Center brings anywhere from 0.75” to 1.75” across the state.
This would certainly help with our drought, but we would need 3 or 4 more similar rainmakers over the next month to break us out of the drought.