The latest drought report released Thursday, July 23, shows North Carolina's drought conditions are improving.
"The biggest change with this latest update is that none of our area is under exceptional drought conditions now," WRAL meteorologist Grant Skinner said. "The extreme drought has dropped from 39% to 29%. The exceptional drought now only covers 2% of the state. Basically all of Wake County is now only in severe drought."
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The drought monitor only considers rain that fell before Tuesday afternoon, so more improvement is likely with the heavy rain we're seeing on Thursday.
Last week, the drought receded slightly across the Carolinas, particularly in the southern portions of our viewing area near Fayetteville. A week ago, the percentage of the state in an extreme drought was 37%, a significant drop from the previous week's 65%.
That is all good news, but it will take a lot of rain to eliminate the drought. We still need 16 inches of rain within a month to end our drought, according to WRAL meteorologist Aimee Wilmoth.
Falls Lake is one of Raleigh's largest reservoirs for drinking water. It is nearly four feet below normal levels, and lost nearly three-quarters of the lake's volume. This is one of the leading causes of water restrictions in Raleigh that went into effect on April 20.
"It's definitely shaping up to be one of the worst droughts that we've had," Klaus Albertin of the Drought Management Advisory Council said. "We're seeing continued declines even though people are trying to conserve. There's just more demand during the summertime."
Albertin noted expected rain in the coming days won't be enough to end current water restrictions, with continued impacts on everything from water recreation to agriculture.
"It would put a halt to the slide that we're seeing...but it's going to be a long summer," Albertin said. "I'm expecting to see these conservation measures throughout the summer."