Drought Monitor Shows Increased Dryness

The latest drought monitor was released Thursday morning, and meteorologist Kyle Bridgers says that we’ve taken a step back, after weeks of drought reduction in the Carolinas and Virginia:

“In southwest Virginia, the abnormally dry conditions returned. Though as a whole they are still technically drought free. In South Carolina, conditions are better than two weeks ago, but remain much the same over the past week. The extreme drought persists in the western part of the state. In North Carolina, conditions have remained the same. We should see some popcorn like storms across the area.

Our potential evapo-transpiration rate could go very high. The drought conditions are likely to get a little worse over the next couple weeks if the summer like conditions continue.
 

We will need to keep an eye on the system developing in the Gulf. It could turn into a tropical cyclone, and even if it doesn’t, it will still bring a lot of rain, as much as 8-10 inches. A few models show the system going west toward Texas and some have it going east across Florida and up the Atlantic coast. 
 

Parts of eastern North and South Carolina would love to have that rain as well as western South Carolina. Summer like thunderstorms will be seen across the region through Saturday. Sunday looks dry, and on Monday we see a chance for rain. 

Southern Farm Network Meteorologist Kyle Bridgers.

To see the drought maps click here.