Recent rainfall was not enough to offer relief from worsening drought conditions. According to the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council, extreme drought conditions have expanded across most of the Piedmont and in western North Carolina, and one county is now considered to be in exceptional drought.

According to the DMAC’s classification’s issued Thursday, one county - Union County - is now in exceptional drought, 61 counties are in extreme drought, and most of the rest of the state is in severe drought.

“Rainfall over the weekend was welcome but average at best for late April,” said Klaus Albertin, chair of the DMAC. “Much of the Piedmont got less than a quarter of inch. It’s going to take quite a bit of rain to see improvements, but maybe the rain in the forecast will help ease the downward trend.”

For counties in extreme (D3) or exceptional (D4) drought conditions, water systems are advised to follow their Water Shortage Response Plan and adhere to water use reduction measures. They must report weekly water use and conservation status online at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resource’s Local Water Supply Plan website.

The public should check with their local water supply systems for any information on water use restrictions that may be in place.

“If your system is in voluntary or mandatory conservation, and you can water once or twice a week, pick a good time to water,” said Linwood Peele, supervisor of DEQ Division of Water Resources Water Supply Planning. “You don’t want to wait until it’s 90 degrees. Try early mornings or when there is cloud cover. There are other things you can do – if you’re washing clothes, wash a full load.”

Rainfall totals recorded by gages across the state are well below normal for the last six months, based on data from the Southeast Regional Climate Center. Some areas are down more than 15 inches from normal since the drought started in August, according to the North Carolina State Climate Office.

“We get a lot of questions asking: It rained, is the drought over?” Peele said. “With some areas in a more than 15-inch deficit, we are going to need almost twice the normal amount of rainfall per week for a few months to get out. It’s also going to get hotter, and we are going to peak growing season, where water demands are higher.”

Groundwater and streamflow levels across the state are below normal levels. According to the state’s network of monitoring wells, groundwater levels are near record lows based on groundwater records going back as far as 1965 for parts of the Piedmont, northeastern North Carolina, far western North Carolina and an area around Charlotte.

A lack of rainfall impacts not just surface water, but recharge for groundwater levels. Groundwater also helps to feed streams, which in turn, impacts stream flow, said Mark Durway, hydrogeologist with DEQ’s Division of Water Resources Groundwater Resources Branch.

“Groundwater levels are dropping because we haven’t had enough rain, so we don’t have recharge or infiltration of that water into the ground,” Durway said. “Water users should follow any conservation measures provided by their systems. Private wells owners experiencing low flow, low pressure, sputtering faucets, discolored water or sediment which may indicate low water levels should contact an N.C.-certified well driller.”  

The N.C. Forest Service’s ban on all open burning remains in effect until further notice.

DMAC is a collaboration of drought experts from various government agencies in North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina, and organized by DWR. DMAC members meet weekly and submit their drought condition recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Drought Mitigation Center for updates to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a map of the nation’s drought conditions. DMAC’s drought map is updated weekly on Thursdays, based on conditions through the previous Tuesday. To view North Carolina’s drought map, visit www.ncdrought.org.

To learn more, visit our drought education page.