Raleigh on pace for driest spring on record

Meteorological spring, which runs from March through May, has been extremely dry with all three months seeing a precipitation deficit. March saw 2.43” of rain at RDU with a deficit of 1.68”. April had the least amount of rain with only .94” with a deficit of 1.98” and May, as I write this, has seen 1.45” of rain with a deficit just over an inch. When you combine all three months, RDU has only seen 4.82” of rain which has us on pace to have the driest spring on record in Raleigh. This is significant when you consider we just came off the second-wettest meteorological winter on record in Raleigh.

For the months of December through February RDU saw 17.21” of precipitation, with a surplus of 7.41”.

Folks on Facebook and social media were saying enough already with the rain. Farmers were emailing me in March saying we don’t need any rain for a while since they couldn’t get their equipment in the fields to do work – it was just too soggy. Then in just three months’ time we are at an opposite extreme with rainfall down over 5” for our current spring season.

Folks on social media are letting us know they need rain, and some farmers can’t get their seed into the ground cause the dirt is too hard and dry.

If we don’t see over an inch of rain at RDU by May 31, then we will have the driest spring on record for Raleigh. Even if we do see over an inch of rain by the end of the month, we will go down in history as either the second or third driest spring.

If you are curious as to whether this is a pattern that will become extended, we are not seeing signs of that right now. The extended forecasts don’t keep us in below-normal precipitation. The Climate Prediction Center shows Raleigh with above-normal rain chances for the first week of June with temperatures near normal.

Let’s hope as we transition into meteorological summer – which runs from June through August – we see a different pattern evolve. I have seen so many times a sudden transition to a different pattern as we end a month or end a season. Weather is always interesting and will always keep us humble!