Some hit or miss rains across the Carolinas over the past week. What kind of difference did it make? Well, I’m going to ask that of Corey Davis, Assistant State Climatologist for North Carolina, some areas got some pretty good rain, didn’t they?

“Mike, you know, these April showers are a pretty reliable part of our spring weather, but part of their nature is that they do tend to be pretty hit or miss. So last week, we saw some of those showers move in on Thursday night, last through the day on Friday and in some areas, taper off on Saturday morning. So where the rain was falling, it tended to be a pretty good, steady soaking rain. But again, that rain did not fall everywhere, in general, across central North and South Carolina, most areas were in that half inch to an inch range, about normal for a week here at this time of the year. But places like the triad and the triangle saw even higher amounts. In some areas closer to an inch and a half or two inches and then this feels like a broken record, but we’ve been saying this every single week basically since the winter time. It was once again, those eastern areas, especially right along the coastline, that really missed out. Wilmington had another week with less than half an inch of rain. Same story down the coast in Charleston and then along the Outer Banks, places like Hatteras and Nags Head, Only squeezed out about a 10th of an inch of rain from that system late last week. So those are the areas where we’re continuing to see those moderate and even severe drought conditions on the US Drought Monitor. Really no relief for those areas this week, but again, looking a little bit further west, this was another solid rain event late last week, and the second good rain they had in the space of the last two weeks. So that has at least made some difference on the Drought Monitor, and also some difference with some of the Ag reports that we’re getting this week.”

Let’s talk about that. What are you seeing from extension agents and others after these rains?

“Well, of course, this is the time of the year when a lot of those plants are going into the ground. Down in South Carolina, they’re almost halfway through their normal corn planting. So even though it has been dry over the last few months, they’re really right on schedule with where that corn should be in terms of going into the ground across North Carolina, not quite as far along with the corn planting. And of course, we’ve had some cool mornings over the past week, so I don’t blame the farmers for waiting a little bit longer to get some of those crops in the ground. But some of the reports that we’ve heard from eastern North Carolina this week, in some of those areas that haven’t seen as much rain, are saying that the rain they have had has made a good difference, especially with the top soil moisture. Right now, that soil moisture is pretty sufficient for planting, but it’s when they’re digging down a little bit deeper, down further in the root zone, that’s where they’re finding that sub soil moisture is still lacking a little bit, and really that speaks to how dry it’s been since the middle of winter. Places like New Bern and Wilmington are running three to four inches below their normal rain here over the past three months. So they could still use a little bit more rain and a little bit higher doses to replenish some of that subsoil moisture. But at least for that normal spring planting. Things are marching right along.”

We’ll talk about that just a minute as we look to the forecast. But you mentioned these cooler mornings that some areas have had. Have we had any reports of frost?

“At least across central and eastern North and South Carolina, there was some patchy frost a few days this week, back on Monday morning, parts of western North Carolina even saw some temperatures drop down into the upper 20s. So they could have seen another freeze event there. But really, every other morning this week, the coolest spots in the outlying areas have only gotten down into the upper 30s. Again. That’s enough to create some patchy frost, but no real concerns for freeze damage. So at this point, we are pretty much out of the woods of any of those late season frost or freeze events, we are almost a month past the average last freeze date for areas along the coast, and several weeks past that average last freeze date for the Piedmont.”

So looking at the forecast, especially no real frost or freeze threat coming up through the end of the month, and a lot of farmers use Easter as sort of that benchmark. But of course, Easter moves, and it can move pretty widely across the calendar, but we’ve got that, of course, coming up this weekend. And with that in mind, what’s our forecast look like?

“Well, Mike, we have no Easter freeze to worry about this year like we did back in 2007 like you said, that’s a very memorable event, and one that a lot of farmers are using as a guide post for when to expect that last freeze. But the forecast is anything but chilly. We are up into the low 80s. Today, we’ll be in the mid to upper 80s. Tomorrow, some areas have a chance of hitting the 90 degree mark between now and Monday, we will see a small cool down by late Monday into Tuesday, as another cold front comes through, that will also bring a chance of rain showers across the Carolinas on Monday night and then during the day on Tuesday. Not looking for a lot of accumulations out of that, maybe a quarter to a half inch at most. But fairly sunny weekend forecast. Also, those nighttime low temperatures will be well above normal. We’ll be in. 50s this morning in the low 60s through the weekend. So for those Easter sunrise services, no need to even grab a jacket. It is going to be very much spring like-warmth out there.”

I can’t leave without asking you about the pollen count. Where do we stand with that and when? When can we start washing our car again and not worrying about it turning yellow again within the hour?

“Yeah, you know, we had that rain late last week. That was another good example of washing some of that pollen out of the air. But it has definitely rebounded this week, especially when we’ve seen more of those dry and windy days. Though, the Raleigh monitor that’s operated by the Division of Air Quality has seen those grass and tree pollen levels still in the very high range over the past few days, and it is the usual culprits. There it is that pine pollen and the oak the pine especially, is that dusty yellow pollen that tends to get everywhere. Historically, it’s really not until we get into early May, where we see that pollen level from the trees start to drop off a little bit, so we’ll hope for whatever rain we can get between now and the end of the month, just to keep some of that yellow dust off of everything. But again, for now, keep the Kleenex handy and maybe hold off on washing that car for a little bit.”